Donald Trump’s “art of the deal” has been picked to pieces over the last three months in a New York courthouse.
On Friday the former president was ordered to pay $354.9m, and barred from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or entity for three years.
The stakes of this civil fraud trial were high. Trump stood accused of inflating his net worth on government documents. Because of the documents-focused nature of the case, it was a bench trial with no jury. Judge Arthur Engoron was the sole decider of the case.
But that didn’t stop the former president from turning the trial into a spectacle that often resembled a mix between a campaign rally and a reality TV show.
Forty witnesses appeared over 44 days in court. From the appearance of Trump’s three adult children to his own time on the stand, here are five key moments from Trump’s fraud trial.
Pre-trial judgment sets the stage
Engoron dropped a bombshell ruling days before the trial started. The judge said that documented evidence – millions of pages of financial statements and communications – showed Trump had committed fraud.
In his ruling, Engoron ordered a severe punishment, revoking Trump’s business and real estate licenses, essentially barring him from doing business in New York. But Trump appealed the ruling, which is still going through appellate court.
Still, the summary judgment was a huge victory for the attorney general’s office, and it made the trial an uphill battle for Trump’s team. Many of the arguments Trump’s lawyers used during the trial were ones Engoron had already struck down in his pre-trial ruling, like the so-called “worthless clause”.
When Trump took the witness stand, he tried to argue that clauses on the government documents said the valuations were not vetted, making the statements themselves “worthless”. Trump even had a note about the disclaimer clause in his pocket when he was on the stand.
“If you want to know about the disclaimer clause, read my opinion again – or for the first time, perhaps,” Engoron said, referencing his summary judgment, where he argued that the worthless clause argument was “worthless” in itself.
Because the core of the case was decided before proceedings began, the trial itself was focused on determining the fine Trump would have to pay.
Judge issues gag order against Trump
When Engoron issued his pre-trial ruling, Trump on social media called him “deranged”, setting the antagonistic tone Trump took against Engoron from the start of the trial.
But Trump pushed Engoron’s patience when he mocked Engoron’s principal law clerk on social media after the trial’s first day, posting a picture of the clerk with the Democratic senator Chuck Schumer and calling her “Schumer’s girlfriend”. In response to the post, Engoron issued a gag order barring Trump from speaking out publicly about members of his staff.
Things got heated in the courtroom later on in the trial, when Trump held a press conference outside the courtroom during the testimony of Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer.
“This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is,” he told the cluster of reporters.
Soon, Engoron addressed the comments in the courtroom, saying that he believed Trump was referring to his law clerk, and he was considering serious punishment for violating his gag order. Engoron allowed Trump to briefly testify that he was referring to Cohen when he made the statement. But Engoron ultimately said he did not believe Trump, fining him $10,000 for the comment.
“I am very protective of my staff, as I should be. We all know that we are in an overheated environment,” Engoron said. “I don’t want anyone to be killed.”
Though Trump tried to appeal Engoron’s gag order, an appellate court ultimately upheld it in January.
Engoron’s concerns were not unfounded: court records show Engoron received an influx of death threats to his phone. On the last day of the trial, right before closing arguments, a bomb squad was sent to Engoron’s house in East New York after a serious threat.
‘Heck of a reunion’
When he was called into the courtroom as a witness, Michael Cohen strolled into the courtroom wearing jeans. Trump sat opposite him, flanked by his lawyers, scowling at his former lawyer and fixer. In a comment to reporters on break from his testimony, Cohen called it “a heck of a reunion”.
It was the first time Cohen had faced his former boss since they parted ways in 2017. Cohen would ultimately go to prison for three years for schemes he conducted under Trump.
Much of Cohen’s time on the stand was focused on his credibility as a witness. Part of Cohen’s prison sentence was punishment for lying to Congress, which Trump’s lawyers said made him not a credible witness for the case.
But at the very end of Cohen’s testimony, when Trump’s lawyers tried to dismiss the whole case based on the testimony, Engoron said he did not see Cohen as a key witness.
“There’s enough evidence in this case to fill this courtroom,” Engoron said.
Still, Cohen’s appearance was a reunion in more ways than one. Sitting in the audience during his testimony were two key lawyers, Susan Necheles and Susan Hoffinger, in Trump’s upcoming hush-money trial. Necheles will be representing Trump while Hoffinger will be fighting for the Manhattan district attorney’s office. That trial is set to start in March.
Necheles and Hoffinger probably attended this trial to see how Cohen held up on the stand – he is a key witness in the case since he helped facilitate payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels. The lawyers’ appearance served as a reminder that as this case ends, Trump’s trials are far from over.
Family affair
Over two weeks, the court was treated to a family affair. Trump’s adult children took the witness stand in a marathon of family testimony.
Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump – all of whom have served or are serving as executives of the Trump Organization – were each interrogated by prosecutors over the financial statements at the center of the case. But the siblings didn’t offer much clarity, often returning to the phrase “I don’t recall” during their testimonies.
Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son and first to testify, emphasized a point that his siblings would also make during their testimonies: when it came to the financial statements, he would “leave that to my accountants”, specifically the outside accounting firm the company hired. This is despite signing documents, prosecutors pointed out, that said the valuations in statements were the responsibility of the Trump Organization.
Eric Trump took the brunt of questioning for his work on the family’s Seven Springs property in Westchester county, New York. Documents implied Eric was involved in valuations of the property, which the Trump family had purchased in the 90s with the hopes of developing a golf course or a cluster of luxury homes.
Even after local residents blocked plans to develop the property, the Trump Organization listed the valuation of the property as if it could still be built on. But when Eric was asked about discrepancies on financial statements, he said he had no recollection of giving information for the statements.
“That’s not the focus of my day. I focus on construction, I don’t focus on appraisals,” Eric Trump said during his testimony.
Trump on the stand
As a witness, Trump was prone to angry rants directed at the judge and the New York attorney general, Letitia James – things that delight his followers but probably hurt his credibility in court.
“We have a hostile judge, and it’s sad,” Trump said, adding later that “the fraud is on behalf of the court.”
Engoron jumped in multiple times during his testimony to remonstrate with Trump’s lawyers over their client’s unruliness.
“I beseech you to control him or I will,” Engoron said.
Even during the tamer moments of Trump’s testimony, he spoke wistfully and, at times, incoherently about his properties. When talking about one of his Scottish golf clubs, he said, “At some point, at a very old age, I’ll do the most beautiful thing you’ll ever see,” providing no specifics.
Trump’s testimony confirmed what was being made clear throughout the trial, that he seemed to care more about the cameras waiting outside the courtroom that would broadcast his face and words to his followers across the country.
