Donald Trump brought bombastic rhetoric to the witness stand at the beginning of November in the civil fraud case against him and his business. While he was testifying for the prosecution, he spent his time on the stand attacking the New York attorney general who brought the case and the judge overseeing the trial itself.
Now, Trump’s attorneys and the New York attorney general’s office will present closing arguments in the case on Thursday. The judge said he will aim to file a written decision on the docket by the end of January.
Trump’s testimony at times mimicked his appearances on the campaign trail, where the former president has made the four criminal cases against him a central part of his argument to be elected president again in 2024.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who has clashed with Trump throughout the trial, at first tried to stop the former president’s political barbs and speechifying, telling his lawyer Chris Kise to “control your client” and threatening to have Trump removed as a witness. Eventually, the judge stopped trying to control Trump — he and the attorney general’s lawyer questioning Trump let him rant, and then mostly disregarded the missives.
Trump decided not to testify again for the defense.
Here are some of the key takeaways from Trump’s time on the stand:
- Trump’s campaign comes to the courtroom: The former president’s rhetoric at times during his testimony might as well have been at one of his rallies in front of supporters. He went after the attorney general. The judge. And the “political witch hunt” that he’s been railing against for years now. On the witness stand, the charged rhetoric was even more remarkable, as he attacked the judge sitting right next to him, with James in the courtroom watching his testimony just feet away. “The fraud is on the court, not on me,” Trump said.
- Trump gets an angry response from the judge: Judge Engoron tried at the outset of Trump’s testimony to stop the former president from making speeches and instead answer the questions, but it did little to change Trump’s approach. The judge responded by threatening to remove Trump from the witness stand, though that didn’t deter the former president either. “This is not a political rally,” Engoron said to Trump, telling Trump’s attorney to “control your client.”
- Trump acknowledges changing valuation of Trump Tower triplex: The attorney general’s office pressed Trump on the properties central to his identity and brand: Mar-a-Lago, Trump Tower and other key parts of his real estate empire. The AG’s office attorney Kevin Wallace also pressed Trump on why valuations of properties were changed, such as his Trump Tower triplex, which was devalued on his financial statement in 2017 after a Forbes article found he had dramatically exaggerated the size of the apartment. Trump acknowledged there had on occasion been mistakes, such as the Trump Tower apartment valuation.
- Trump’s descriptions of his properties: The former president’s rhetorical flourishes went beyond attacking those who are investigating him. He also took the opportunity to play salesman and play up his properties. One of his chief complaints about the judge is a citation in his decision that Mar-a-Lago was worth $18 million, a number based on Florida tax appraisal records “It’s much more valuable,” Trump said of Mar-a-Lago, “and we’ll show that in two weeks or five weeks or nine weeks or whenever this thing goes, that it’s biggest value is using it as a club.” Wallace took the answer to pin him down on that valuation. “You believe that as of today Mar-a-Lago is worth $1.5 billion?” Wallace asked. “I think between a billion and a billion-five,” Trump responded.
Catch up on other takeaways from the former president’s previous testimony here.
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