Nov. 13 (UPI) — Donald Trump Jr. will get to clarify many of the statements he gave two weeks ago during the New York civil trial against the Trump Organization when he takes the stand as the lead witness for the defense.
The eldest son of former President Donald Trump testified earlier during the prosecution’s case, where New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the family of illegally inflating their assets to get better loan terms.
The prosecution rested last week after questioning more than 20 witnesses. Judge Arthur Engoron had already ruled that the Trumps used fraudulent documents to conduct business, in a partial summary ruling that they are appealing.
Trump Jr. had testified that he relied on the external accountants who prepared the document while leading the revocable trust his father used to guard against business conflicts while serving as president.
The Trumps — the ex-president and his oldest sons Donald Jr. and Eric — along with some executives of the Trump Organization, have denied wrongdoing in the case and have deflected blame for falsified documents to those working for them.
“I know nothing about GAAP,” Trump Jr. said, referring to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, during his earlier testimony. “I leave it to my CPAs.”
Donald Trump has repeatedly clashed with Engoron, with the judge fining the former president twice for what he has said outside of court about the trial, with Trump calling him a “fraud” during his testimony.
Trump Jr.’s testimony is the start of a list of defense witnesses before returning to the prosecution for any rebuttal testimony.