Former President Donald Trump wanted to see what the key witness in the fraud trial against him had to say. But he wasn’t even there.
New York City – Donald Trump in court: an all too familiar image. The former president of the United States of America appeared again in the $250 million civil fraud trial against him and his company, even though the key witness he wanted to observe, Michael Cohen, was not there.
Trump: Cohen doesn’t have the courage to appear
Reported about it NBC. According to the news portal’s sources, Trump planned to watch the testimony of his former lawyer and opponent Michael Cohen, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday. But Cohen said Friday he was struggling with a health issue and would not appear in court that day as scheduled. Judge Arthur Engoron said Monday that Cohen’s testimony would be delayed for at least a week. Trump complained to reporters during his lunch break on Tuesday that “Cohen didn’t have the courage” to show up.
Cohen said in a statement that if he had been afraid of Trump, he “would not have provided information that forms the basis of this process. I look forward to seeing you in court soon!” Cohen said in a statement Monday that he would be ready for Trump whenever he testifies. “I am grateful that although the disease is incredibly painful, it does not require immediate intervention,” he said. “I expect to appear as soon as the pain subsides.”
Prosecutor: Trump empire built on “nothing but lies and sinking sand.”
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Trump denounced the trial as “rigged” and accused New York Attorney General Letitia James of election interference. According to his own statement, he should actually “campaign somewhere else.” Trump is not required to attend the trial. James accused Trump of of having grossly exaggerated his net worth in financial reports to banks and insurance companies.
Trump said Tuesday that James and her office are “the fraudsters,” called the trial against him a “witch hunt” and complained again about the Palm Beach County tax assessor’s estimate of the value of his Mar-a-Lago club at between 18 and 27 million US dollars. In contrast, Trump had calculated the value at $400 million to $600 million in his financial reports.
According to Trump, “The house is worth a billion, a billion and a half, 750 million; it’s worth a fortune,” he said, calling it “probably the most expensive house in the world.” Cohen said Trump increased the value of his assets to secure loans and that he also discounted them for tax purposes. She told reporters at the end of the trial on Tuesday that Trump’s “entire empire was built on nothing but lies and sinking sand.”
Instead of hearing from Cohen on Tuesday, Trump and others in the courtroom heard testimony from Trump Organization accountant Donna Kidder, who detailed the company’s accounting practices. She recounted a conversation with the company’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, in 2012 when he told her to omit the company’s management fees for a property from a cash flow report in order to increase the property’s overall value. He described it as “going from one bag to the other,” Kidder said.
During the afternoon break, Trump goes to another hearing
During the afternoon break, Trump addressed another legal matter: He testified in a two-hour, closed-door deposition in a case involving former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, about whom he has spoken publicly for years had made fun.
Strzok and Page criticized Trump in private text messages while involved in then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Strzok claims he was wrongfully fired from the FBI, while Page, who resigned as an FBI attorney in May 2018, has alleged privacy violations related to the public disclosure of her text messages with Strzok.
Trump only had trouble with the law on Monday: he was muzzled by the federal judge responsible for the election interference case against him. A Well-known psychoanalyst recently compared Trump to Hitler. (cgsc)
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