Eric Trump Testifies he Had No Involvement in Fraudulent Financial Statements, but Evidence Suggests Otherwise
Eric Trump, the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, took the stand on Thursday in the civil fraud trial against his family and company. He swore that he had never been involved with the financial statements that New York state lawyers claim fraudulently boosted his father’s wealth and the value of the family business. However, when presented with a decade-old email asking for information for one of his father’s financial statements, Eric Trump tried to clarify his earlier statement.
While Eric Trump admitted that the Trump Organization had financial statements, he maintained that he had no involvement or work in his father’s statement of financial condition. Despite another Trump Organization executive testifying that Eric Trump was on a video call about the financial statement in 2021, Eric Trump claimed not to remember it. He cited his busy schedule and stated that he was on a thousand calls a day. Donald Trump Jr., Eric’s brother and fellow executive, also testified in the trial on this day.
Gag Order Controversy
The trial day ended with Judge Arthur Engoron suggesting that he might expand the gag order after the defense lawyers once again criticized his law clerk’s role in the case. At the beginning of the trial, Engoron had barred the participants from smearing his staff after Donald Trump had made derogatory comments about the clerk on social media. Engoron has been criticized for his clerk passing notes to him during testimony, which the defense lawyers claim is inappropriate and unfair to them. However, Engoron argued that he has an unfettered right to his clerk’s advice and threatened to extend the gag order to include the attorneys if they referred to a member of his staff again.
The civil fraud trial was brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accuses Donald Trump, his adult sons, and other defendants of inflating the ex-president’s net worth on his annual financial documents. These documents were given to banks, insurers, and other parties to secure loans and make deals. Eric Trump will return to the witness stand on Friday, while Donald Trump is scheduled to testify on Monday, followed by Ivanka Trump on Wednesday.
Eric Trump’s Testimony
During his testimony, Eric Trump denied any involvement with the statement of financial condition and claimed that he didn’t have much knowledge about it until the case came to fruition. However, state lawyer Andrew Amer presented old emails from the Trump Organization’s controller that indicated Eric Trump’s participation in the financial statements. Eric Trump acknowledged that he knew the controller handled his father’s financial statements but downplayed his own role, stating that he didn’t believe the emails would have registered as involvement in the financial statements. The evidence suggests otherwise.
Donald Trump Jr., while testifying on his second day, stated that he only dealt with the financial statements in passing, relying on assurance from finance executives and an outside accounting firm that the information was accurate. He still believed that his father’s financial statements were materially accurate despite the allegations made by Letitia James.
Outside the courthouse, Donald Trump Jr. criticized the attorney general’s case, calling it a political persecution and a scary precedent for New York. He argued that he relied on accountants to handle the accounting and should not be held accountable for any alleged fraud.
