In two long messages written from beginning to end in capital letters, which in social media code is equivalent to shouting, Trump has said that he has nothing more to say about the fraud case being pursued against him and his companies in New York. York. In a last-minute twist, the former president of the United States refuses to testify at the trial, as he had announced he would do this Saturday. “I WILL NOT TESTIFY ON MONDAY”, He says at the end of one of his messages written in Truth, their social network, and published on Sunday afternoon.
The former president was expected to appear this Monday as the defense's main witness. He already testified on November 6 at the request of the prosecution and Trump appeared defiant and combative. The judge had to call his attention repeatedly and warn him that he was not at a political rally. For this Monday he planned to take the stand to defend the cleanliness of his business when asked by his lawyer, but that also exposed him to subjecting himself to the fire of the Prosecutor's Office. “I HAVE ALREADY TESTIFIED EVERYTHING AND I HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY,” He has also written in another fragment of his message.
The former president argues that he has changed his mind because the experts summoned by the defense have already given testimony so “STRONG AND IRREFUTABLE” that it is unnecessary to add anything more. Trump insists on his thesis that the trial is a witch hunt and electoral interference to favor Joe Biden in next year's presidential elections, although as always, without providing any evidence in this regard.
On the other hand, New York Attorney General Letitia James maintains that the statements of the defense's own witnesses favor the prosecution, as explained on Friday in a video on the social network X. According to James, one of the experts “admitted that the valuations of some of the properties in Donald Trump's financial disclosure statement were neither 'adequate' nor 'reasonable.'
Another expert is a member of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and said Trump personally asked him to “help” in the case when he ran into him at the club, “with a matter in New York.” “That issue was our demand,” explains James, smiling. The prosecutor adds in her video that another Trump expert is an accounting professor whose fees are paid by Save America, Trump's political action committee, and that the professor testified that the value of Trump's “triplex” was inflated, she said. James, adding: “On that we can agree.” “He also had a lot to say about statements of Donald Trump's financial situation, even though he has not prepared a financial statement since the 1980s,” he said of the third witness. “Donald Trump can continue trying to distract from reality. He can continue insulting me. But as the judge said today, the norm is the truth. And the truth is on our side.” finish your video.
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The trial has accused Trump's companies of inflating the valuations of some of their assets to obtain more advantageous financing from banks. In his Truth Social messages this Sunday, Trump raises the bid and assures that his Mar-a-Lago mansion is worth between $900 and $1.8 billion, a rather crazy figure.
Judge Arthur Engoron, in charge of the case, already ruled in September, before the trial began, that Trump and other defendants had committed fraud. He ordered a receiver to take control of some of the former president's properties, but an appeals court has stayed that decision. The judge is now considering six other charges, including conspiracy and insurance fraud. New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking fines of more than $300 million and wants Trump to be banned from doing business in New York.
Trump was to be the defense's last witness. Now all that remains is for Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, to finish his statement. Several rebuttal witnesses summoned by the prosecution will then follow, before both parties present their final arguments and the trial is heard for sentencing.
Waiting for criminal cases
This is a civil case where Trump is exposed to fines and sanctions. The former president is charged in four criminal cases for a total of 91 crimes. One of the cases is also in New York, that of his first accusation, for commercial falsehoods in payments to hide scandals that he feared would ruin his 2016 presidential campaign (one of them to the porn actress Stormy Daniels, to silence an alleged extramarital affair). This is scheduled before a New York State court, for five weeks beginning March 25, 2024.
Before, in theory, federal Judge Tanya Chutkan set the start of Washington's trial for the attempt to alter the results of the 2020 election for March 4, it is very possible that it will be delayed. Trump has claimed presidential immunity with the argument that he was exercising the functions of his office and although the judge has rejected his request to archive the case, his lawyers have appealed and warned that the case must be paralyzed while that previous issue is resolved. .
Then the criminal case would come for crimes against the espionage law and obstruction of justice for illegally retaining classified material in his possession after his departure from the White House. The judge for the Southern District of Florida has scheduled a five-week trial from May 20, 2024, although it is also likely to be delayed. The trial date is pending in Georgia for the attempted electoral theft in that state, the case that immortalized Trump's mugshot.
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