October 2, 2023 - Trump civil fraud trial in New York begins

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a Manhattan courthouse, where he attends the trial of himself, his adult sons, the Trump Organization and others in a civil fraud case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James, in New York City, on Monday.

Former President Donald Trump was in attendance at a Manhattan courtroom for the opening day of the New York civil case against him and his namesake company.

Even though he didn’t have to appear, Trump’s presence turned the courthouse into an extension of the campaign trail, where he has railed against the four criminal indictments against him, and now, a civil case where Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last week that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud.

Inside the courtroom, Trump’s attorneys also sparred with the judge as opening statements began, a sign that they’re likely to take a combative approach with a trial that the judge expects to last into December.

Here’s what to know from the first day of Trump’s trial:

Trump labels it a “witch hunt”: In front of the cameras and on his social media site, Trump attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James for bringing the case against him. He attacked the judge for the ruling last week. And he sought to tie them to special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal indictments, even though they are unconnected.

“This has to do with election interference, plain and simple,” Trump said before walking into the courtroom. “They’re trying to damage me, so I don’t do as well as I’m doing in the election.”

Attorney general asks to ban Trump from doing business in New York: Kevin Wallace, with the attorney general’s office, alleged that Trump and his co-defendants conspired to commit persistent and repeated fraud and that Trump’s financial statements convinced banks to take on hidden risk “to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.”

The opening statement underscored the risk the case poses to Trump and the Trump Organization, the former president’s business in New York, where Trump built up his name and image before he launched the political campaign that led him to the White House in 2016.

Trump’s lawyers say this is how real estate works: With the former president looking on, Trump’s lawyers argued Monday that the attorney general’s case was flawed, saying that the differences in valuations were just part of the commercial real estate business.

Trump’s attorney, Christopher Kise, argued there was no intent to defraud and “no victims” in the case.

Kise pointed to documents from Deutsche Bank showing the bank valued Trump’s net worth $2 billion less than Trump did — but still underwrote the loan for Trump.

Judge spars with Trump attorneys: The judge noted that the defense team already had tried to dismiss the case by claiming James brought it as a “witch hunt” against Trump. He had already denied the motion, Engoron said, and his ruling had been affirmed by a New York appellate court.

The judge also sparred with Trump attorney Alina Habba over a discussion about an accounting disclaimer for Mazars, Trump’s former accounting firm. The disclaimer essentially said, “We’re relying on the Trump Organization,” Engoron said. “That’s how I read it.”

“No, your honor,” Habba responded, arguing that the Trump Organization relied on Mazars and “they’re the accountants.”

The exchanges underscored how the upcoming trial is going to be contested — especially when the judge, and not a jury, will decide the outcome.

Read more takeaways here

For former President Donald Trump, showing up in New York for the start of his civil trial Monday was more than a political stop to boost his 2024 campaign. It was also deeply personal.

Several sources who spoke with CNN said Trump’s decision to attend the hearing after the judge found he had committed fraud by inflating his riches was largely driven by how the accusations strike at what the former president values the most: his business and his brand.

Trump has been fuming in recent days since the judge issued the surprise pretrial ruling last week. He has vented the most about the proposed valuation of his bedrock property in Florida, the Mar-a-Lago beach club. Trump was incensed after the judge used an $18 million to about $28 million assessment for the actual value of the compound.

While in Manhattan, Trump repeatedly and brazenly attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James, who launched the case and was in the courtroom Monday, as well as the judge overseeing it, Arthur Engoron. While the public broadsides were against the advice of his attorneys, Trump has dismissed pleas to tone down the rhetoric. 

He has instead told those closest to him that he doesn’t care if any of the judges in his multiple cases seek to punish him, arguing it will benefit him politically if they do. 

On Monday, he sought to tie them to special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal indictments of him, even though they are unconnected.

Trump, leaving the courtroom on a lunch break and approaching cameras in the hallway, railed against what he had heard, attacking the judge as an “operative” and said he should be disbarred for ruling against him.

Asked why he showed up in person Monday, Trump issued a familiar refrain: “Because I want to watch this witch hunt myself.”

The former president, at the end of the day, complained that he had been kept from the campaign trail — even though he was there voluntarily.

Trump speaks to the members of the media at New York State Supreme Court in New York, on Monday, October 2.

In comments to reporters before the Monday hearing, Trump spoke at length about what he called a “worthless clause” disclaimer in the financial statements that are at issue in the trial. 

Trump said, “We have a clause in the contract, it’s like a buyer beware clause. It says, ‘When you take a look at the financial statement, don’t believe anything you read’ — this is up front. ‘Don’t believe anything you read.’ Some people call it a ‘worthless clause,’ because it makes the statement, and anything you read in the statement, worthless. It says, ‘Go out and do your own research, go out and do your own due diligence, you have to study the statement carefully. Do not believe anything.’” 

He said moments later that the clause “immediately takes you out of any fraud situation and any litigation.” 

Facts First: Trump inaccurately described this clause, as Judge Arthur Engoron noted in a ruling last week in which he found Trump liable for fraud. The clause does not say “don’t believe anything you read,” its actual language is significantly softer than Trump claimed. And there is no apparent basis for Trump’s suggestion that the clause inoculates him against any litigation at all.

Engoron wrote last week that “the ‘worthless clause’ does not say what defendants say it says, does not rise to the level of an enforceable disclaimer, and cannot be used to insulate fraud as to facts peculiarly within defendants’ knowledge, even vis-à-vis sophisticated recipients.”

He also wrote that “a defendant may not rely on a disclaimer for misrepresentation of facts peculiarly within the defendant’s knowledge” — and that “defendants’ reliance on these ‘worthless’ disclaimers is worthless.” 

Here’s the text of the clause:

There is certainly language in the clause that suggests that readers of the financial statements should use caution in relying on the listed asset valuations. But the clause doesn’t say the valuations are entirely worthless and does not tell readers that they should simply not believe anything they read in the statements. Rather, it suggests there had been a good-faith effort to value the assets using a variety of reasonable methods.

“You can read it up and down; it doesn’t say, ‘I will lie to you, I will double or triple the value of these things — my statements in here are outright lies,’” CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen said last week.

Former President Donald Trump appears in court on Monday, October 2, presided over by Judge Arthur Engoron.

The judge in former President Donald Trump’s civil trial Monday questioned whether lengthy witness testimony about 2011 financial documents was a “waste of time” because of statute of limitations applying to the case expired in 2014.

At the end of Monday’s court session, Judge Arthur Engoron responded to testimony from former Mazars account Donald Bender about the 2011 financial documents, acknowledging that a state appellate court had ruled the statute of limitations only allowed allegations from 2014 onward to apply in the case. 

The defense agreed with Engoron’s assertion, prompting Trump to give a thumbs up.

The judge’s comment marked a small win for Trump because it showed the judge again recognizing the statute of limitations that had been decided by the appeals court.

At the same time, however, Engoron did allow the witness testimony about the 2011 financial documents on Monday over the objection of Trump’s attorneys, as the attorney general’s office indicated it would connect the testimony to allegations that fall within the statute of limitations.

Bender is returning for a second day of testimony on Tuesday. 

In his ruling last week, Engoron wrote that the fraudulent statements of financial condition were still relevant in the case even if they’re for transactions completed before 2014 because they were submitted within the applicable statute of limitations.

The judge wrote that the attorney general’s office was not “challenging the loans, the closings, or the disbursements,” but was challenging the financial documents containing false and misleading information.

Monday’s comments addressing admissible evidence do not indicate that Engoron will change that ruling. 

A motorcade carrying former President Donald Trump leaves the 60 Center St. New York State Supreme Courthouse in the Manhattan borough of New York on Monday.

Former President Donald Trump has returned to Trump Tower after spending the day attending his civil fraud trial in New York.

The trial is expected to last until December 22, according to Judge Arthur Engoron.

Asked if he would return to court on Tuesday, Trump told reporters while leaving court for the day: “We may, I’d love not to. I’d love to be campaigning instead of doing this.”

Former President Donald Trump leaves New York Supreme Court on Monday, October 2, 2023, in New York.

Former President Donald Trump claimed that Monday’s civil fraud trial in New York took him “off the campaign trail” and cast the trial as a political attack against him.

Trump was not required to attend the trial, which is a civil action — not a criminal case.

Despite that the former president attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit against him in the same manner that he has railed against the criminal charges he’s facing in four other jurisdictions.

Asked whether he was returning for the trial on Tuesday, Trump said: “We may, I’d love not to. I’d love to be campaigning instead of doing this.”

Court has wrapped for the day in the Trump civil fraud trial. The first witness for the New York attorney general, Trump’s former long-time accountant Donald Bender, testified about financial documents from 2011.  

Mazars USA, the accounting firm where Bender worked, would not have issued these statements of financial condition if the Trump Organization did not represent that the numbers were accurate, Bender testified.  Allen Weisselberg, Trump’s former longtime chief financial officer, signed on behalf of Trump that the documents from 2011 were accurate, he added. 

Additionally, Mazars would not have issued these statements if they learned the numbers were not true, Bender said.

He is expected to continue testifying on Tuesday.

For most of the afternoon session, the former president continued to look at the documents on the monitor in front of him, looking across the courtroom at the witness and talking quietly with his lawyers. 

The New York attorney general’s office asked Donald Bender, Trump’s former accountant at Mazars, about the price of a penthouse apartment for Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump.

Bender testified that his job was not to audit Trump’s financial statement, but “from time to time,” he would point out errors to Trump Organization officials on financial documents.

One of the examples he recalled flagging an error was when Ivanka Trump had an option to buy a penthouse apartment at Trump Park Avenue. Bender said that the value on Trump’s financial schedule was different than what was listed in Ivanka Trump’s option.

Bender said he remembered changing the asset value two different years.

The discrepancies were cited in the attorney general’s lawsuit last fall against Trump, alleging that Ivanka Trump was given the option to purchase the unit “lease that also granted her a rental payment substantially below the market rent for similar units in the building.” 

“Ms. Trump’s rental agreement for Penthouse A in Trump Park Avenue included an option to purchase the unit for $8,500,000. But in the 2011 and 2012 Statements of Financial Condition, this unit was valued at $20,820,000—approximately two and a half times as much as the option price, with no disclosure of the existence of the option,” the lawsuit says.

Ivanka Trump was listed as one of the defendants in the attorney general’s initial lawsuit, but was removed by an appeals court.

The New York attorney general’s first witness in Donald Trump’s civil case is Donald Bender, who was Trump’s long-time accountant at Mazars USA.

Bender has since retired from the firm and Mazars no longer prepares Trump’s taxes. The firm resigned and said Trump’s financial statements should no longer be relied upon.

Bender testified that he compiled the statements of financial condition for the Trumps and Trump Organization, meaning he compiled the information given by the Trumps to format it correctly but did no analytics on that information. He said that he did a spectrum of work for Trump Organization and Donald Trump, including statements of financial condition.

“If I saw something that didn’t make sense to me, or bothered me, I would ask him (the client, Trump Organization) about it,” Bender testified.

Trump lawyer Chris Kise objected to the admission of a Mazars engagement letter for Trump’s 2011 statement of financial condition, arguing that it should not be admitted as evidence because it details a claim ruled as time barred by the appellate court.

Judge Arthur Engoron overruled the objection because he said the document could be relevant to fraud perpetrated within the statute of limitations.

“I did no audit or review procedures,” Bender told the court about the engagement organized through the letter, which was dated July 20, 2011.

Former President Donald Trump speaks with journalists during a midday break from court proceedings in New York, on Monday.

In comments to reporters before Monday’s hearing, former President Donald Trump baselessly claimed that the federal Justice Department orchestrated the New York state civil fraud case and other cases against him. 

“It all comes down from the DOJ. They totally coordinate this in Washington,” Trump said. He added later in his remarks, “It’s all run by DOJ, which is corrupt, in Washington. Everything goes through them.”

Facts First: There is no evidence that the Justice Department directed anyone to bring this state civil fraud case. The trial that began Monday stemmed from a lawsuit filed in 2022 by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who quickly began investigating Trump’s company upon being sworn in at the beginning of 2019 – when Trump still had two full years left in his presidency. Trump has correctly noted that James, a Democrat, herself ran on a campaign platform that included a vow to take on Trump.

Trump also said in his Monday comments that “this trial could’ve been brought years ago, but they waited ‘til I was right in the middle of my campaign; the same with other trials and indictments.”

It’s true that a previous New York attorney general could conceivably have pursued the same case years ago, since the allegations pertain to conduct dating back more than a decade — but James brought the case in September 2022, roughly two months before Trump launched his 2024 campaign in November 2022.

Trump faces two federal criminal cases that were brought by a special counsel, Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland; it’s fair to argue that the Justice Department is behind those cases.

But Trump has also baselessly alleged that the Justice Department is responsible for two criminal cases brought against him by local district attorneys in Manhattan, New York, and Fulton County, Georgia.

Former President Donald Trump is back in the courtroom as the first day of his civil trial resumes. 

He walked past reporters in the hallway but did not stop to speak this time, after making multiple statements earlier today, attacking the proceedings, Judge Arthur Engoron and Attorney General Letitia James.

Engoron ruled last week that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud in the attorney general’s civil case, one of the seven claims that are a part of the lawsuit. The trial will determine the amount of damages owed.

In this artist sketch, former President Donald Trump is seen in court in New York on Monday, October 2. 

Former President Donald Trump said he attended the civil fraud trial against him that began Monday in New York so he could “watch this witch hunt myself.” 

Trump was not required to appear in court Monday for the trial against him, his eldest sons, their companies and Trump Organization executives. But he chose to attend and sit in the Manhattan courtroom – while giving multiple statements attacking the proceedings as he entered and exited. 

He continued to rail against Arthur Engoron, the judge overseeing his civil trial, saying he should be disbarred after he ruled last week that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud in the attorney general’s civil case.

In this artist sketch, former President Donald Trump is seen in court in New York on Monday, October 2. 

Former President Donald Trump attacked Arthur Engoron, the judge overseeing his civil case, as he left the courtroom during a lunch break following opening statements this morning.

Trump called Engoron a Democrat and “an operative,” saying that the case against him was a “disgrace.” He also attacked the New York Attorney General Letitia James for going after him instead of violent crime. 

“We’re going to be here for months with a judge that already made up his mind. It’s ridiculous,” Trump said.

“They waste their time with this, with banks that were very happy that got all their money back. They weren’t defrauded. I’ve been defrauded,” Trump said. 

Asked if he was coming back to the courtroom after lunch, Trump said, “probably.”

Engoron ruled last week that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud in the attorney general’s civil case, one of the seven claims that are a part of the lawsuit.

During the four opening statements of the civil fraud trial, former President Donald Trump sat at the defense table between two of his lawyers.

He never spoke to Judge Arthur Engoron. 

Trump often faced forward, watching the small video monitor in front of him which displayed the opening presentations by the state and his defense lawyer.

Trump occasionally sat with his arms folded or leaned over to whisper to his lawyers. When Alina Habba and Clifford Robert, who are lawyers for the other defendants, spoke without video presentations, Trump looked at them intently.

Habba, who represents Trump, Allen Weisselberg, Jeffrey McConney and other employees of the Trump Organization, at times turned to him when she was discussing the valuation of his Mar-a-Lago resort.

As Trump’s lawyer, Chris Kise, answered questions from the judge, Trump wrote notes and passed them to him. 

Eric Trump, who is also a defendant, sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery, on the defense side behind and to his father’s left.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James sat in the front row on the other side of the courtroom, behind the former president and about 15 feet to his right. 

The former president only once looked at James, as he left the courtroom for the lunch break, turning his head as he walked past where she was seated.

Eric Trump stopped and shook her hands using both of his hands as he followed his father out of the courtroom. 

Court resumes at 2:15 p.m. ET after a lunch break.

Former President Donald Trump, right, sits in the courtroom at New York Supreme Court, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in New York.

Former President Donald Trump has not expressed much emotion in the courtroom for the first session of the criminal fraud trial.

During the four opening statements, Trump sat at the defense table between two of his lawyers. He never spoke to the judge. Trump often faced forward, watching the small video monitor in front of him which displayed the opening presentations by the state and his defense lawyer.

When Alina Habba and Cliff Robert, who are lawyers for Trump’s co-defendants, spoke without video presentations, Trump looked at them intently. Habba, who represents Allen Weiselberg, Jeff McConney and other employees of the Trump Organization, at times turned to Trump when she was discussing the valuation of his Mar-a-Lago resort.

As Trump’s lawyer, Christopher Kise, answered questions from the judge, Trump wrote notes and passed them to him. Eric Trump, who is also a defendant, sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery, on the defense side behind and to his father’s left. New York State Attorney General Letitia James sat in the front row on the other side of the courtroom, behind the former president and about 15 feet to his right.

Trump only once looked at James, as he left the courtroom for the lunch break, turning his head as he walked past where she was seated. Eric Trump stopped and shook her hands using both of his hands as he followed his father out of the courtroom.

The attorney for Donald Trump’s adult sons said he “vigorously” disagrees with most of the opening statement given on behalf of the attorney general.

Cliff Robert, who represents Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, began his opening statement by attacking Kevin Wallace, who spoke for New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office.

“I vigorously on behalf of my clients disagree with just about everything Mr. Wallace said,” Robert began.

“You need to judge credibility,” Robert said, urging the judge to determine the credibility of the people who were involved in the transactions, namely Michael Cohen.

“I don’t think that could be overstated,” he added.

Robert argued that there was nothing materially wrong with the valuations of financial conditions that Don Jr. and Eric signed, and they would not be “running away” from them.

“They relied on the work product of others” when they signed the statements of financial condition after Trump took office, Robert said.

Justice Arthur Engoron of the state Supreme Court listens to opening arguments by Kevin Wallace during the trial of former President Donald Trump, his adult sons, the Trump Organization and others in a civil fraud case brought by James, at a Manhattan courthouse, in New York City, on Monday.

Judge Arthur Engoron rebutted attacks from Donald Trump’s attorney Alina Habba against New York Attorney General Letitia James, responding to her opening statement and getting into a debate with the attorney over her claims.

In her statement, Habba attacked James for saying in her campaign for attorney general that she was going to “get Trump.”

Engoron, who ruled last week that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud in the attorney general’s civil case against Trump, responded by noting that the defense already tried to dismiss the case claiming that James brought it as a “witch hunt” against Trump.

Trump intently watched Habba as she sparred with the judge. 

“These statements of financial condition were current, current market value. The point is what were they worth then,” Engoron said, pushing back on Habba’s assertion that the inflated values showed what they could be sold for at some point in the future.

An accounting disclaimer from Mazars, Trump’s former accounting firm, essentially said, “We’re relying on the Trump Organization,” Engoron said. “That’s how I read it.”

“No, your honor,” Habba responded, arguing that the Trump Organization relied on Mazars and “they’re the accountants.”

The exterior of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home is seen on March 23, 2023 in Palm Beach, Florida.

Alina Habba, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, Allen Weisselberg, former Trump Organization chief financial officer, and other Trump Organization employees, delivered an opening statement in court Monday attacking New York Attorney General Letitia James. 

Habba’s comments echoed Trump — who has tried to tie the civil case against him in New York as an effort to attack him and his presidential campaign.  

“Ms. James said she was going to come into office and ‘get Trump,’” Habba said, claiming that the case could have been brought three years ago before she took office.

Habba also criticized the valuations the judge gave for properties like Mar-a-Lago, which the judge valued at $18 million in his ruling last week, finding Trump and his co-defendants liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud. 

Habba argued that if Trump was trying to show a higher net worth, he would have included things like the rights to “The Apprentice” and the Trump brand. 

“There would have been the brand, the same brand that got that man elected for president,” she said. “There’s a lot of people in this room that probably don’t like that and that’s why we’re here.”

Trump was looking at Habba as she spoke in the courtroom.

A NYPD bus across from Trump Tower on Monday morning in New York, April 3, 2023.

Donald Trump’s campaign deployed out-of-date crime data about New York City in a Monday attack on state Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit in which the former president is now facing a civil fraud trial for inflating asset valuations on financial statements. 

In a news release the campaign distributed shortly before Trump appeared in a New York courtroom for the start of the trial, the former president’s campaign delivered a variety of attacks against James — one of them pointing out that she received a campaign donation from liberal billionaire George Soros, a Jewish philanthropist and Democratic donor who has been a frequent target of antisemitic conspiracy theories baselessly depicting him as a puppet master behind various domestic and international events.

The Trump campaign concluded the Monday release by claiming that New York crime has “skyrocketed” under James, who took office in 2019. But the campaign repeatedly used crime data from 2021 or 2022 even though more recent data is available — making the crime picture look worse than it is, since the situation with some major crime categories has improved markedly this year and last. 

For example, the Trump campaign said, “In New York City, shootings increased by 71% from 2018 to 2022.”

While that’s accurate, the campaign didn’t mention that the number of shootings in the city has plummeted by about 27% so far in 2023 compared to the same point in 2022 — after also falling about 17% for the full year of 2022 compared to the full year of 2021.

In other words, the Trump campaign didn’t explain that New York City is now well into a second straight year with an improving shootings trendline, and, if current trends roughly hold for the rest of the year, that 2023 will end with a much less than 71% increase over the number of shootings compared to 2018.

Similarly, the Trump campaign said, “Murders increased by 48% from 2018 to 2022 in New York City.” The Trump campaign didn’t mention that the number of murders in the city declined by about 10% in 2022 and has fallen by about 11% so far in 2023 compared to the same point in 2022. Again, the trendline is well into a second year of significant improvement.

And the numbers aside, it’s also highly questionable at best to blame or credit an individual attorney general for the crime situation in their state. 

The number of murders spiked around the country beginning in 2020, when there was widespread economic and social upheaval because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and has improved around the country in 2022 and 2023 — complicating attempts to assign blame for the increases or credit for the decreases to any particular state or local official.

In addition, the precise causes of crime fluctuations are difficult to pinpoint even decades after the fact; they are affected by numerous factors, from the economy to government policy to sociocultural factors to policing strategies to the corrections system.

Former President Donald Trump returned to court following the short break after opening statements were given by attorneys for the New York attorney general’s office and Trump.

Trump averted making eye contact with New York Attorney General Letitia James as he entered and walked past her. James is sitting in the first row.

Eric Trump also did not make eye contact with James.

Alina Habba, the attorney who represents Allen Weisselberg, Jeffrey McConney and other employees of the Trump Organization, is now speaking.

“I wasn’t planning to speak today until I saw what the attorney general said outside and the presentation by Mr. (Kevin) Wallace,” Habba said.