The oldest son of former President Donald Trump said he did not help with the financial papers that are causing problems for the family’s property business in a court case about fraud.
Donald Trump Jr, who is 45 years old, seemed calm and laid back in court in New York City. He made some funny remarks and insisted that he had not done anything wrong.
His brother and sister, Ivanka and Eric Trump, are going to give testimony soon.
The judge has already said that the Trump Organization made its wealth seem bigger than it really was and lied about its business records.
The court case will decide what punishment should be given. Letitia James, who is in charge of the legal affairs in New York and belongs to the Democratic Party, wants to punish the former president with a fine of $250 million and prevent him from carrying out any business activities in New York.
Donald Trump Jr is the first of Donald Trump‘s children to provide information in this legal matter. Earlier this week, he went on the conservative Newsmax network and said that the trial was a fake and unfair court.
He and Eric Trump are both being sued together with their father. The two brothers have important positions at the Trump Organization.
Mr Trump Jr, wearing a blue suit and a bright pink tie, answered questions for a little more than an hour. His statement will continue on Thursday.
He started his presentation by talking about Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which are the rules and guidelines businesses follow to keep their financial records accurate.
Mr admitted that he didn’t know much about GAAP, except for some things he remembered from his college business classes.
When the state attorney asked him about his understanding of the topic, he made the courtroom laugh by saying, “I don’t understand anything. ”
“I let my accountants handle it,” Mr.
During the trial, Mr. Trump Jr apologized to the judge because he was talking too fast for the court stenographer to type everything accurately.
“I’m sorry, Your Honour, I moved to Florida, but I continued to live at the fast pace of New York,” he said jokingly.
He said in court that he had done “every single thing” while working for the family business. He’s not an accountant, though.
Mrsaid that his position in the company became more important after his father, who is a Republican and the president of the United States, was elected.
“He said that we no longer informed my father about the business decisions. ”
Both of Trump’s brothers were appointed as trustees of the company when their father became president in 2017, in order to prevent any conflicts of interest.
On Wednesday, someone asked Mr. Trump Jr if he had approved his father’s “statement of financial condition. ” He responded by saying that he did not remember doing so.
The afternoon in court was mostly quiet, but there were a few intense arguments between Mr. Trump’s lawyers and the New York attorney general’s team towards the end of questioning.
The lawyers asked Mr. Trump Jr if he helped make the company’s financial papers.
He mentioned that he depended on others to “create a document like this”.
The accountants were doing it. “He said that is exactly why we gave them money. ”
Mrinformed the court that the responsibility for the task was with Allen Weisselberg, a long-serving finance chief. Weisselberg had been charged in this case and admitted his guilt last year for committing tax crimes.
“I had to listen to the people who knew a lot about those things,” he said, and he trusted Weisselberg and his accounting team.
Judge Arthur Engoron, a Democrat from New York, is overseeing the trial and has already determined that Mr Trump is responsible for exaggerating his assets in order to obtain loans that were advantageous to him.
A short time before his son was going to speak in court, Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social account: “Stop bothering my kids, Engoron. ” You bring shame to the job of being a lawyer.
Last week, the judge gave a penalty to the former president for breaking a rule twice. The penalty was $15,000 because he talked about a court worker when he wasn’t supposed to.
At first, Ivanka Trump was named as one of the people being accused in the case. However, she was later taken off the list and made to testify as a witness instead.
On Wednesday, Ms. Trump’s lawyers asked for the order to testify to be changed. She is supposed to testify on 8 November.
The person who used to be the president and is currently the top contender to be the Republican choice for president in 2024, is expected to give evidence on Monday.
Last week, he went to court to see his old lawyer Michael Cohen testify. Cohen said that one of his jobs at the Trump Organization was to increase the value of assets by using a number chosen randomly by Mr.
MrTrump is currently dealing with four criminal trials. These include cases in Georgia and Washington DC where he is being accused of trying to change the outcome of the 2020 election that he lost.