Trump rages to prosecutor’s face about ‘crazy trial’ as ex-pres takes stand in tax fraud case after judge’s warning
DONALD Trump has traded jabs with a New York judge during a court hearing on Monday.
The exchange happened after Trump testified on the stand during his civil fraud trial testimony.
Judge Arthur Engoron had to ask Trump to stop giving speeches and to give direct answers more than once in the courtroom.
A lawyer in the New York Attorney General’s Office, Kevin Wallace, was questioning Trump about his statements of financial condition from 2011 when the testy exchange occurred.
The former president claimed that banks didn’t pay much attention to the financial statements.
“We would call it a worthless statement clause,” Trump said, before he trailed off into a monologue.
“As this crazy trial goes along,” Trump said, the legal teams can call banks and: “They will explain what the process is.”
Trump added that he has been doing business with financial institutions for upwards of 50 years when Wallace asked him how he knew that.
At that point, Engoron stepped in and said he expected the questioning to move along.
“Please just answer the questions — no speeches,” the judge said, adding that: “We don’t have time to waste. We have one day to do this.”
The judge also proclaimed to Trump’s defense attorney: “I beseech you to control him if you can. If you can’t, I will.”
Trump’s defense attorney, Chris Kise, then interjected saying that Trump’s answers required lengthy responses.
The $250 million lawsuit has been brought against Trump by the New York attorney general’s office.
The lawsuit has alleged that Trump and his co-defendants committed fraud by inflating assets on financial documents to get better terms on insurance policies and commercial real estate loans.
Despite the judge trying to condense Trump’s answers, the former president continued to go off on several tangents during Monday’s hearing.
He responded to one question: “I have a lot of money, a lot more money than you thought.”
He then trailed off about his Aberdeen golf course being an incredible piece of land – and possibly the greatest golf course ever built.
At that point, the judge said that if the attorney general’s counsel wanted to allow Trump to continue to ramble and be unresponsive with his answers, he’ll follow their lead.
Trump later complained about a lengthy disclaimer document stating that it: “goes on forever.”
The attorney general’s counsel gave a snarky response, saying: “That clause isn’t the only thing that goes on forever.”
