Trump Frustrated as Lawyer Asks Witness if He Lied
Former President Donald Trump looked angry Wednesday in a New York City courtroom during his ongoing civil trial. He shook his head, threw his hands up in the air, and whispered.
Trump has already been found guilty of fraud, but his trial is still going on for other charges, such as making false business records and conspiring with others. The state is seeking $250 million and strict rules for Trump’s businesses. He and the other people charged with him have denied doing anything wrong.
One of the witnesses was a real estate executive and evaluator who was surprised to learn on Tuesday that the Trump Organization had used his work to help them figure out how to value properties.
During Doug Larson’s cross-examination, attorney Lazaro Fields asked him many times if he had wrongly valued a building that ended up making more money than expected. Larson, who rated the building for a bank many years ago, said no over and over.
Trump’s team has said that values and assessments are just views that vary from person to person. This means that a property owner can come up with their own numbers that are very different from what an expert might say.
As Larson insisted that he had given Trump’s building the right value, Trump’s head moved quickly from side to side, and his whispers turned into loud rasps.
A lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James named Kevin Wallace said Trump’s actions were similar to intimidating witnesses and asked the judge to tell Trump not to say anything.
Judge Arthur Engoron didn’t seem to care but did what was asked of him.
“OK, I’ll ask everyone to be quiet while the witness is testifying,” Engoron stated.
Fields showed Larson a set of emails from a Trump Organization executive asking about values that were almost ten years old. This seemed to go against Larson’s signed statement on Tuesday, in which he said he didn’t help with that in 2013.
Larson was asked by Fields if he was telling the truth. Before Fields could answer, Christopher Kise, a lawyer for Trump, jumped up and cut him off just as Larson was starting to say that he couldn’t remember the emails.
Kise, who used to be the solicitor general for the state of Florida, told Larson that he should talk to his own lawyer before answering. Wallace said that the Trump team was “terrifying witnesses” again.
Larson was taken from the room. Then Kise made it clear why he thought Larson should have been able to talk to his lawyer.
“I just want the witness to be aware of his 5th Amendment rights because, in my opinion, he perjured himself yesterday,” said Kise. To Kise’s left, Trump looked very interested.
Wallace looked shocked, but not as shocked as he would be in a moment.
“This is some kind of performance; I take it for the press,” he said.
Kise replied that he was watching out for Larson, who was a witness for the government.
“Unlike the government, I take his rights seriously,” stated Kise.
A group of lawyers for the attorney general yelled back and called Kise by his first name.
“Chris, come on!”
“Chris, stop!”
At that point, Larson’s own lawyer wanted to talk to him because Kise brought up the possibility of lying. The judge said no, even though he has said many times that he wants questions to go more quickly.
“What does it matter?” “He lied to himself, so he lied to himself,” Engoron said. “Get him back on the stand.”
When Larson got back, he said he didn’t remember the emails from ten years ago, but now that I look at them, it looks like he did talk to the Trump Organization executive about how to value things.
Later, a lawyer for the attorney general showed deposition transcripts and emails that seemed to show Larson had been consistent and honest in his testimony. For example, they showed that Larson talks about valuation methods with a lot of real estate executives and might not be able to remember a specific conversation about that.
Kise disagreed and said it was his turn to say that the government was doing things for the press, which he said would probably include that in their stories.
During the whole conversation, Trump seemed very interested. In comments made outside of court, he seemed thrilled about what had happened.
“The government lies.” They told lies. President Trump praised his defense lawyers and said, “They didn’t reveal all the information and evidence they had that shows how innocent I am.” “This is like Perry Mason.”
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