Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., took the stand Wednesday in the civil fraud trial facing the family and their business.
Trump Jr. testified that he was not involved in preparing his father's financial statements at any time, even after his father became president in 2017 and was named trustee of Donald Trump's revocable trust.
Deputy Attorney General Colleen Faherty showed Trump Jr. the 2017 financial disclosure statement, which the judge ruled was fraudulent.
Trump Jr. claimed that he did not help prepare the statement that year.
"I didn't do it. The accountants worked on it, that's what we paid them for," he said.
Faherty focused on the licensing developments in the financial statement and asked Trump Jr. whether he gave accountants the $246 million valuation attached to the licensing agreements.
Trump Jr. said he could have discussed the agreements with the accounting team because he was the lead person on most of them, but that he did so without knowing they would use those values in the financial statements.
“I didn't give them a value of $246 million. "I could have sat there and gone through each of the deals individually with Allen Weisselberg, Jeff McConney, Donald Bender, and given them an idea of what I think the cash flow coming from those deals would have been worth, without even knowing it," Trump Jr. testified. .
“It is very possible that he would have been involved in inferring that number, but without knowing that it was for that purpose,” he added.
The son of the former president reiterated again in a long response to the question: “I did not participate in the preparation of the statement of financial situation.”
Trump Jr. testified for less than 90 minutes Wednesday afternoon and is expected to continue testifying under direct examination Thursday morning. Trump's defense team has indicated they do not plan to question his client.
The lawsuit against Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. is one of the defendants in the US$250 million lawsuit filed by the New York attorney general against the former president, his company and several executives, including three of his adult children.
The lawsuit accuses Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric of participating in a scheme to inflate his father's net worth in order to obtain financial benefits such as better loan terms and insurance policies.
"As executive vice presidents, all three sons were intimately involved in the operation of the Trump Organization's businesses," the lawsuit states.
In a deposition taken last year, Trump Jr. distanced himself from financial statements that Judge Arthur Engoron already declared fraudulent in a summary judgment before the trial began.
"I had no real involvement in preparing the Statement of Financial Position and I don't really remember working on it with anyone," Trump Jr. said.
"Again, people may have asked me about things tangentially that I gave them an answer to that they may have then used as a basis to come up with whatever, but, no, not specifically when it comes to, you know, knowledge on the financial status," he added. Donald Trump Jr. worked on commercial leasing for the Trump Organization, including the company's property at 40 Wall Street at issue in the lawsuit.
Trump Jr. became trustee of his father's revocable trust when he took office and certified financial statements in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
He testified in his deposition that he relied on the Trump Organization's accounting and legal departments when he signed the paperwork.
"Those people would have a better understanding of the specific details of those things. And whoever brought me a document, if it was something more accounting, it was probably from accounting. If it was more legal, it would be from the legal department. And, 'Hey, what?' Do we agree to sign this document? Do you think it is faithful and accurate? And if it was okay with them, they would have a lot more knowledge than I could tell, so I would sign it," he declared.
Eric Trump, whose name has been invoked in court over valuations of New York properties such as Seven Springs and Briarcliff Manor, is expected to testify after his brother later this week.
Ivanka Trump was originally named in New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit, but an appeals court dismissed the claims, saying they were too old. However, prosecutors are still trying to question Ivanka Trump about her involvement in a number of properties, among other matters, and she is expected to appear in court next week.