Ex-President Donald Trump testified in his civil fraud trial and made a gesture of zipping his lips after a back-and-forth with the judge.
Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys were urged ‘to control him’ as he lashed out at the judge while taking the witness stand in his civil fraud trial.
Trump appeared dead behind the face and restless in moments while testifying under oath on Monday in the $250million lawsuit that takes a personal hit threatening his real estate business in New York.
Judge Arthur Engoron asked Trump’s lawyers on more than one occasion to take command over the ex-president’s behavior.
‘That was a simple yes-no answer,’ Engoron said to Trump, then addressed his legal team. ‘I beseech you to control him.’
The judge earlier had told Trump’s attorneys: ‘This is not a political rally… maybe you need to have a talk with him right now.’
Engoron also told Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise, ‘I don’t want to hear everything he has to say.’
Trump while walking out of the courtroom for a short break in the late morning made a gesture of zipping his lips. He continued to walk away from reporters with his attorneys as they asked, ‘How’s it going in there?’
He entered New York Supreme Court around 10am and quickly took the stand.
The former president seemed to control his temper, but hardly restrained words against Engoron. He insisted that Engoron will ‘rule against me because he will always rule against me’.
Engoron denied Trump’s allegation and asked him to focus.
‘You can attack me all you want, but just answer the question,’ the judge said.
Trump testified that
Trump’s testimony started smoother in the second hour than the first. Trump flashed a thumbs up at reporters on his way back from a 15-minute break and started answering questions in a more succinct fashion.
However, that didn’t last long, as Trump then turned to attacking New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case against him.
Trump said he is worth billions more than what James claims and, ‘I think she is a political hack’.
James alleges that Trump, his two eldest sons and executives of the Trump Organization inflated the value of their assets to receive more favorable loans. James also claims that Trump inflated his net worth by up to $3.6billion in three years from 2011 to 2011.
Engoron is set to decide on six remaining claims in the case: falsifying business records, conspiracy to falsify records, issuing false financial statements, conspiracy to falsify the statements, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
Trump and his company could could force them to pay large amounts in damages for their profits. James is seeking to prohibit Trump from doing business in New York and to shutter his companies based there.
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