Letitia James goes after Trump’s household, places his kids on the witness stand in N.Y. trial
Former President Donald Trump’s oldest little one is scheduled to take the witness stand Wednesday within the New York trial in opposition to the ex-president and his enterprise, kicking off a sequence of household testimony and excessive drama within the long-running civil case.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and her crew will confront Donald Trump Jr. with accusations the household enterprise manipulated property on monetary types to achieve favorable phrases on loans and insurance coverage.
His brother, Eric Trump, is scheduled to testify Thursday earlier than his father — the 2024 GOP front-runner for president — and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, take the stand the next week.
The witnesses may very well be difficult for Ms. James’s crew. They will attempt to weave a believable or plausible narrative in opposition to the lawsuit and “do so in a mutually supportive manner,” stated Robert Sanders, a regulation professor on the University of New Haven.
“They are unlikely to pull this off,” he added.
He pointed to the plight of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founding father of the doomed FTX cryptocurrency trade, who provided evasive solutions in his personal trial solely to be confronted by onerous proof of alleged fraud.
Mr. Trump and his grownup kids may assert the Fifth Amendment and keep silent. Yet in contrast to in legal circumstances, a choose or jury in civil trials can infer a point of guilt from their silence.
Appearances by the Trump household will inject extra drama right into a trial that’s already seen its share of theatrics.
Mr. Trump’s lawyer-turned-accuser, Michael Cohen, provided testy testimony in help of the state’s lawsuit, prompting the ex-president to accuse his former fixer of mendacity like a canine.
Judge Arthur Engoron additionally fined Mr. Trump twice after concluding the ex-president violated a gag order.
Before the trial started, Judge Engoron discovered Mr. Trump responsible for misrepresenting the worth of a few of his properties, handing Ms. James an early victory on one among her claims.
Mr. Trump stated he did nothing fallacious and that Ms. James and the presiding choose don’t perceive primary actual property practices.
The former president is attending some days of the trial in Manhattan whereas campaigning in Iowa and elsewhere on different days.
Speaking from courtroom hallways, he stated the Biden administration is utilizing the federal authorities and New York Democrats to thwart his political ambitions.
“My guess is that most hard-core Trump supporters are seeing all of these prosecutions and lawsuits involving Trump and his family as a kind of ordeal by fire. Martyrdom fits nicely with the long-term Trump argument that he is the target of the deep state,” stated Ross Baker, a politics professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Mr. Trump has confidently dismissed witnesses comparable to Mr. Cohen, although some pundits suppose he could have a tough time seeing his kids on the stand.
“He’s going to be on edge hearing them admit that they didn’t have a basis for things or saying that daddy told me to do it,” George Conway, a lawyer and frequent Trump critic, stated on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.” “That’s what I would be worried about if I were him, but I don’t know what they’re going to say.”
Defense attorneys tried to maintain Ivanka Trump off the witness stand. Unlike her brothers, she isn’t named within the swimsuit and left the group in 2017 to work on the White House.
However, the courtroom stated Ms. Trump performed enterprise in New York and owns property there, so her testimony is related. She is scheduled to testify on Nov. 8 — two days after her father is scheduled to take the stand.
Ms. Trump has tried to distance herself from the polarizing ambiance that surrounds her father, asserting in late 2022 that she doesn’t plan to be concerned in politics or her father’s 2024 marketing campaign.
“She is not a Michael Cohen. She does not want to intentionally hurt the [other] kids,” Mr. Sanders stated. “But she will not take a bullet for Team Trump. If the right question is asked and she has the answers, it could be like Team Trump touched an exposed live wire in real-time.”
