NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Aggrieved and defiant, former President sat through hours of sometimes testy opening statements Monday in a fraud lawsuit that could cost him control of Trump Tower and other prized properties.
鈥淒isgraceful trial,鈥� he declared during a lunch break, after listening to lawyers for New York Attorney General Letitia James excoriate him as a habitual liar. The state's lawsuit accuses the business-mogul-turned-politician and his company of deceiving banks, insurers and others by misstating his wealth for years in financial statements.
鈥淭hey were lying year after year after year,鈥� Kevin Wallace, a lawyer in James' office, said as Trump sat at the defense table. He looked straight ahead, arms crossed, facing away from a screen that showed details of Wallace's presentation.
Defense lawyers, in response, said the financial statements were legitimate. Trump's holdings are "Mona Lisa properties" that can command top dollar, attorney Alina Habba said.
鈥淭hat is not fraud. That is real estate," she said, accusing the attorney general's office of "setting a very dangerous precedent for all business owners in the state of New York.鈥�
Trump voluntarily attended a trial that he called a 鈥渟ham," a 鈥渟cam鈥� and 鈥渁 continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time.鈥� Currently the in the 2024 presidential race, he reiterated claims that James, a Democrat, is trying to thwart .
鈥淲hat we have here is an attempt to hurt me in an election,鈥� he said outside court, adding: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the people of this country are going to stand for it.鈥�
Trump sneered at James as he passed her on his way out at lunchtime; she, by turn, left smiling. Meanwhile, his campaign immediately began fundraising off the appearance.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last week that Trump . If upheld on appeal, the ruling could force Trump to give up New York properties including Trump Tower, a Wall Street office building, golf courses and a suburban estate. Trump has called it a 鈥渁 corporate death penalty鈥� and insisted the judge is unfair and out to get him.
This trial concerns six remaining claims in the lawsuit, including allegations of conspiracy, falsifying business records and insurance fraud. It is a non-jury trial, which Engoron said was legally required when a suit seeks not only money but a court order setting out something a defendant must do or not do.
James is seeking $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
鈥淣o matter how powerful you are, and no matter how much money you think you have, no one is above the law," she said on her way into the courthouse.
Trump denies wrongdoing. He says that James and the judge are undervaluing such assets as his Palm Beach, Florida, resort, Mar-a-Lago, and that it didn鈥檛 matter what he put on his financial statements because they had a disclaimer that says they shouldn鈥檛 be trusted.
The former president and a who鈥檚 who of people in his orbit 鈥� his two eldest sons, Trump Organization executives and 鈥� are all listed among dozens of potential witnesses.
Trump isn鈥檛 expected to testify for several weeks. His trip to court Monday marked a remarkable departure from his past practice.
Trump didn't go to court as either a witness or a spectator when his company and one of its top executives was convicted of last year. He didn't show, either, for a civil trial earlier this year in which a jury found him in a department store dressing room.
This time, 鈥淚 wanted to watch this witch hunt myself,鈥� he said outside court.
In a recent court filing, James' office alleged Trump exaggerated his wealth by as much as $3.6 billion.
He claimed his three-story Trump Tower penthouse, replete with gold-plated fixtures, was nearly three times its actual size and worth $327 million, far more than any New York City apartment ever has fetched, James said. He valued Mar-a-Lago as high as $739 million 鈥� more than 10 times a more reasonable estimate of its worth, James maintained.
鈥淓very estimate was determined by Mr. Trump," Wallace said in his opening statement. He pointed to pretrial testimony by Trump Organization figures and ex-insiders including Cohen, who said the company estimated assets to get to a predetermined number 鈥渢hat Mr. Trump wanted.鈥�
Wallace said the alleged scheme got the company better loan rates, saving it $100 million in interest.
鈥淭hey hid their weaknesses and convinced these banks to take on hundreds of millions of dollars in risk," he said, adding: 鈥淲hile the defendants can exaggerate to Forbes magazine or on television, they cannot do it while conducting business in the state of New York.鈥�
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise said defense experts will testify that assigning values to properties is, by nature, a matter of opinion.
鈥淭here is no such thing as objective valuation,鈥� Kise said in an opening statement.
Any discrepancies in values don't amount to fraud, he said, and disclaimers on the financial statements made clear that these were estimates and that banks would have to perform their own analysis.
Trump and his lawyers have also argued that no one was harmed by anything in the financial statements. Banks that made loans to him were fully repaid. Business partners made money. And Trump's own company flourished.
Kise blasted last week鈥檚 fraud ruling, telling the judge he shouldn't have made a decision before hearing expert trial testimony on property valuations. Engoron, tiring of the defense鈥檚 criticism, shot back: 鈥淩espectfully, what鈥檚 that expression? You鈥檙e stalking the dead horse here.鈥�
James鈥� lawsuit is one of several legal headaches for Trump as he campaigns to return to the White House. He since March, accused of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, hoarding classified documents and falsifying business records related to hush money paid on his behalf. He has pleaded not guilty to all the allegations.
The New York fraud trial is expected to last into December, Engoron said.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Karen Matthews contributed to this report.
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Michael R. Sisak, Jake Offenhartz And Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press
