Trump’s New York civil fraud trial wraps up for the day: recap

Donald Trump’s fury was on full display Monday during the first day of his civil fraud trial, where he lambasted the judge overseeing the case outside of the courtroom and stared daggers into the attorney general investigating business practices involving some of his most famed properties.

The former president’s frustration — and his counsels’ — was apparent throughout the day, encapsulated in stern glares and sometimes heated arguments between the parties and the judge. Trump also raged to the news media during a break in the hearing, telling them that although he was not required to be there in person, he wanted to “watch this witch hunt” himself.

Read more by The Hill’s Ella Lee, who was in the courtroom.

Judge Arthur Engoron dismissed the trial for the day at 4:30 p.m., ending midway through Donald Bender’s testimony for the government.

His testimony is expected to pick up Tuesday morning as the case continues.

Former President Trump left the courtroom almost immediately after the the judge ended the proceeding for the day, resisting a glance at New York Attorney General Letitia James on his way out the door.

— Ella Lee

Donald Bender, former President Trump’s longtime accountant formerly at Mazars USA, is the New York attorney general’s first witness. Bender prepared Trump’s personal tax returns for years and was granted immunity to testify on the government’s behalf.

— Ella Lee

In remarks just outside the courtroom while Monday’s hearing was on a lunch break, former President Trump told news crews that he believes the judge overseeing his fraud case ought to be disbarred.

“The judge in this case is wrong,” Trump said after reading from what appeared to be articles that challenged findings that overinflating property values is against the law.

“Let’s go to trial because this is a judge that should be disbarred. This is a judge that should be out of office. This is a judge that some people say should be charged criminally for what he’s doing,” Trump said. “He’s interfering with an election, and it’s a disgrace.”

When asked why he opted to attend the trial’s first day in person, which he was not required to do, Trump responded, “Because I want to watch this witch hunt myself.”

— Rema Rahman

Upon leaving the courtroom for a lunch break, former President Trump looked daggers at New York Attorney General Letitia James in a glare that lasted several seconds.

It was unclear whether James saw Trump’s scowl, but the attorney general remained seated in the courtroom for a few more minutes before leaving.

The court is now on lunch recess.

— Ella Lee

Michael Cohen, former President Trump’s onetime attorney and fixer, is among a list of witnesses who plan to testify in Trump’s fraud trial.

In a deposition shown by prosecutors earlier Monday, Cohen suggested that Trump wanted to inflate his net worth in order to be “higher up on the Forbes list,” a reference to the wealth magazine’s list of the world’s richest people.

After working on Trump’s behalf since before the 2016 election, Cohen flipped on his former boss amid investigations into the Manhattan attorney’s finances.

Cohen initially came under scrutiny for a $130,000 hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels he made on Trump’s behalf in order to cover up allegations of an affair. That payment is also at the center of one of Trump’s criminal indictments in New York, which is separate from the civil fraud trial.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 for tax evasion, making false statements and campaign finance violations. He also separately pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. He was released from prison in 2021.

— Rema Rahman

Clifford Robert, an attorney for former President Trump’s sons, argued in his opening remarks that the New York attorney general’s office must show credibility and repeated, persisted illegal acts.

That Michael Cohen — Trump’s ex-fixer whom he described as “a guy who lies to everyone” and a convicted felon — is the “linchpin” of the government’s case should show the judge a “picture of what their case is about.”

Cohen also said that the evidence about what Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. “didn’t do” is more important than what it shows they did do, asserting that their roles were not to be accountants for the Trump Organization.

— Ella Lee

Alina Habba, a legal spokesperson for Trump who is representing some defendants in the case, gave another set of opening remarks for the defense — a move she attributed to New York Attorney General Letitia James’s comments made prior to the trial’s start and the significant media presence.

Habba targeted James’s motivation for bringing the case, suggesting that upon taking office, James made it her mission to “go to work, get Trump and go home.”

She also took aim at Michael Cohen, Trump’s ex-fixer who is expected to testify as part of the case, calling him a “liar.”

Then, she asserted that the government is “conflating” tax-assessing with the market value of a property, suggesting that “the value is the value … the value is what someone is willing to pay.”

“That is not fraud; that’s real estate,” Habba said.“There was no intent to defraud. Period, the end,” she said.

— Ella Lee

Trump attorney Chris Kise argued that the state’s evidence of intent by Trump and his businesses to commit fraud is undermined by disclaimers on their statements of financial condition.

“Banks will tell you — in sophisticated commercial real estate, it’s not an intentional defrauding; it’s simply the opinion of the owner of the property,” Kise said.

He added those who work in such real estate spaces do not provide “absolute” figures, but “estimates of current value.”

“You might reach different conclusions; assumptions we make might not be assumptions you make,” Kise said, asserting that those disclaimers alone establish no intent, materiality or reliance.

“Anyone engaging in fraud does not say to the other side: Please conduct your own analysis,” he added.

— Ella Lee

Trump attorney Chris Kise claimed the New York attorney general’s office is telling “stories,” not showing evidence, in his opening remarks for the defense.

The evidence will establish that Trump has made “many billions” in his real estate business and owns “one of the most successful and highly recognized brands in the world,” Kise said.

“He has made a fortune, literally, being right on real estate investments,” Kise said.

He argued that the state has no credible evidence of agreement between the defendants, undercutting their conspiracy allegation, and asserted that the evidence demonstrates no intent for fraud or any “victims.”

— Ella Lee

A clip from ex-Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen’s deposition was also played as part of the state’s opening remarks.

Cohen said that he and Allen Weisselberg, former Trump Organization CFO, were tasked with inflating Trump’s assets in order to “obtain the number that Mr. Trump wanted.”

He said the former president might want to be “higher on the Forbes list,” so he’d suggest that, for example, his $6 billion net worth should actually be $8 billion.

“Allen and I were tasked with increasing those assets in order to accommodate that $8 billion number,” Cohen said.

— Ella Lee

Kevin Wallace, counsel with the New York attorney general’s office, said in the state’s opening remarks that Trump, his adult sons and the Trump Organization engaged in “repeated, persistent illegal acts” while operating their businesses.

“Those illegal acts, together with the fraud we already established, entitles the people all equitable relief (requested).”

Wallace played a clip from Eric Trump’s deposition, asserting the president’s son denied responsibility for statements of financial condition.

He also played a clip of Donald Trump Jr.’s deposition where he made the same denial, which garnered an objection from his counsel that was overruled by Judge Arthur Engoron.

“Who is responsible?” Wallace asked.

— Ella Lee

Former President Trump on Monday dismissed a New York fraud trial set to begin over his business dealings as a “scam” and a “sham” as he attacked prosecutors and the judge in the case.

Trump arrived in court just before the trial proceedings began. He called the proceedings part of the “single greatest witch hunt of all time.”

“We have a rogue judge who ruled that properties are worth a tiny fraction … of what they actually are. We have a racist attorney general who’s a horror show who ran on the basis that she was going to get Trump before she knew anything about me,” Trump said to reporters gathered in the courthouse.

Read more here.

— Brett Samuels

Judge Arthur Engoron said that for the three-month trial, he hopes the only words he utters are “sustained, overruled and let’s take a 10-minute break,” signaling that he will not tolerate disruptions in the courtroom.

He thanked both “esteemed” parties’ counsel for adhering to his tight schedule, before detailing the definition of fraud and the accusations against Trump.

“I promise to do my best,” he said. “Despite my many attempts at humor, I take my job very seriously and know counsel of the parties do likewise.”

— Ella Lee

Judge Arthur Engoron denied a motion by a coalition of press to televise the trial, but he said he would allow a pool of around five photographers.

Five photographers entered the courtroom, beelining for the defense table where they are photographing Trump. It’s unclear at this time for which outlets the photographers report.

The photographers have now been instructed to leave the courtroom.

— Ella Lee

Judge Arthur Engoron has entered the courtroom, signifying the start of the trial. The first statement he made was informing the gallery how to pronounce his name — with an emphasis on the middle syllables.

— Ella Lee

Former President Trump has entered the courtroom shortly after 10 a.m., wearing a blue suit and blue tie. He sported a stern face, glancing into the gallery but not making eye contact with New York Attorney General Letitia James. Secret service and police entered the room with him and are lining the gallery rows.

— Ella Lee

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Letitia James, New York’s top prosecutor who brought the case against Trump, has arrived in the courtroom. She is seated in the front row of the gallery along the right side of the courtroom. 

— Ella Lee

Trump’s trial is set to begin at 10 a.m., but the New York courtroom where the civil fraud case will be heard is already beginning to fill up.

Three columns of four-seat benches line the white, gold and wood courtroom, with reporters lining those seats and the sides of the room.

Above the judge’s bench is the phrase “In God We Trust” and a large fresco-style painting showing a judge overseeing a courtroom.

Neither New York Attorney General Letitia James nor former President Trump have yet arrived in the courtroom as of 9:45 a.m., but prosecutors have gathered at the front of the space in clusters.

Reporters lined up outside the courthouse early Monday morning hoping to earn a seat in the courtroom, flanked by cameras set up for live shots and a small handful of protestors chanting “Trump lies, all the time.”

— Ella Lee

Former President Trump has arrived at court in Manhattan. He is set to appear in court for the start of his civil fraud trial, according to CNN and The Associated Press.

Trump said Sunday night on his Truth Social platform that he’d attend the start of the New York attorney general’s case against him to “fight for my name and reputation.”

“THIS WHOLE CASE IS A SHAM!!! See you in Court – Monday morning,” he wrote.

Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, said in a Monday morning statement that her team won the foundation of their case last week when a New York judge ruled Trump and his business were liable for fraud, proving that the former president’s net worth has “long been rooted in incredible fraud.”

“In this country, there are consequences for this type of persistent fraud, and we look forward to demonstrating the full extent of his fraud and illegality during trial,” James said.

— Ella Lee

Former President Trump said Sunday night that he will make a voluntary appearance in court Monday morning in the civil case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) over alleged fraud in his business dealings. 

In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump railed against James and the judge presiding over the case, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who last week found Trump liable for fraud in the case. 

Read more here.

— Sarah Fortinsky