纽约司法部长上周让她休息后2.5亿美元的民事欺诈案针对唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)和特朗普集团(Trump Organization)高管，这位前总统的律师将从周一开始提出辩护，特朗普的长子和共同被告将提供新的证词。
不到两周前，小唐纳德·特朗普在审判中面临州检察官的提问，保持距离从处于案件中心的涉嫌欺诈的财务报表，到将责任归咎于与特朗普集团合作的专家和会计师。
“我签署了一份文件，这份文件是[我们的会计师]在知情的情况下准备的，作为受托人，我有义务听取那些专家的意见——他们在这些事情上有专长，”小特朗普作证说。
作为辩护案件的第一位证人，小特朗普不仅有机会澄清他以前证词中的悬而未决的问题，还将带头努力使审判向有利于他父亲的方向倾斜。
纽约司法部长莱蒂夏·詹姆斯(Letitia James)声称，唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)和他的成年儿子夸大了他们的资产，以获得更好的贷款条件。周四，在提交了20多名证人后，她停止了对特朗普的起诉。亚瑟·恩戈伦法官，他已经决定部分简易判决特朗普夫妇使用欺诈性文件开展业务，重申了他的调查结果，即特朗普在周五的口头辩论中犯有欺诈罪。
法官列举了特朗普财务报表中10个内部矛盾的例子，然后说，“你不可能有这种错误的正确陈述。”
唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)和他的儿子埃里克·特朗普(Eric Trump)和小唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump Jr .)已经对Engoron的审前裁决提出上诉，并批评此案是出于政治动机。
小特朗普在11月2日离开法庭后表示，“甚至在法庭上呆一天之前，我就明显犯了欺诈罪，因为我依赖我的会计师做——等等——会计。”
《纽约时报》
“我应该化妆的，”小特朗普开玩笑说两周前，新闻摄影师拍下了他第一天出庭作证时坐在律师旁边的照片。
这句俏皮话代表了小特朗普的法庭风范，他漫不经心地回答问题，并在证人席上与恩戈伦开玩笑。
“我搬到了佛罗里达州，但我保持了纽约的节奏，”在Engoron要求他说慢一点后，他说。
当被问及该州案件核心的财务报表时，小特朗普在领导其父亲在担任总统期间用于防范商业冲突的可撤销信托时认证了这些报表，小特朗普作证说，他依赖于准备文件的外部会计师。
2023年11月2日，小唐纳德·特朗普在纽约市纽约州最高法院的民事欺诈审判中坐在法庭上。
迈克尔·圣地亚哥/盖蒂图片社
“会计师们正在处理这件事。这就是我们付钱让他们做的事情，”他说。
虽然小特朗普与他父亲的声明保持距离，但他承认，他可能在不知情的情况下提供了会计在文件中使用的估值。
“我可以讨论一笔交易的细节，然后他们会推断这笔交易将产生X倍的收入。为了得到一个数字，他们可能已经对我这样做了上百次了，但我可能不知道这个数字会被全部用于财务状况报告，”他说。
辩方的陈述
在审判早些时候的辩论中，特朗普的律师克里斯·基斯(Chris Kise)提供了辩方可能如何进行辩护的潜在预览。
“司法部长的索赔只涉及成功和有利可图的贷款交易，”Kise说。“没有受害者，没有投诉者，没有伤害。”
除了指出银行从向特朗普提供的贷款中赚钱，Kise还表示，该州未能证明贷款人在知道资产膨胀的情况下不会借钱给特朗普。
辩护律师赫苏斯·苏亚雷斯在盘问前川普组织副总裁伊万卡·特朗普时强调了这一点，当时他问她德意志银行高管告诉她的话关于和她家族的公司做生意。
“德意志银行的一位高管和她的团队成员不断告诉我，他们多么重视这种关系，并寻求发展这种关系，”伊万卡·特朗普说。
“阻力最小的路径”
法官Engoron在周四判被告胜诉，驳回动议纽约司法部长阻止四名专家证人为被告作证。然而，法官说，他将阻止证人试图对案件中已经确定的事实进行辩论。
“我不会走阻力最小的路。如果这显然无关紧要，我是不会允许的，”恩戈伦说。
来自Engoron的迫在眉睫的限制证词的威胁可能会对辩护提出挑战，辩护已经指责法官偏向国家.
“如果我们要在两套标准下运营，那没问题。但我谨建议这是不正确的，”上周当Engoron试图缩短伊万卡·特朗普的辩护提问时，Kise说。
“我继续反对你不断暗示我在这里有某种双重标准。这不是真的，”恩戈伦回应道。
“你赢得了这场战斗，”法官在为他们的专家证人走上证人席扫清道路后告诉辩护律师。“我们会看到你是否赢得这场战争。”
Kise说辩方计划在12月15日之前停止陈述。
Donald Trump Jr. to headline defense's case in $250 million civil fraud trial
After the New York attorney general last week rested her$250 million civil fraud caseagainst Donald Trump and top Trump Organization executives, lawyers for the former president will present the defense's case beginning Monday with new testimony from Trump's eldest son and co-defendant.
Donald Trump Jr. faced questions from a state attorney in the trial less than two weeks ago,distancing himselffrom the allegedly fraudulent financial statements at the center of the case and pinning responsibility on the experts and accountants who worked with the Trump Organization.
"I signed off on a document that [our accountants] prepared with intimate knowledge, and, as a trustee, I have an obligation to listen to those who are experts -- who have an expertise of these things," Trump Jr. testified.
The first witness to testify as part of the defense case, Trump Jr. not only will have the opportunity to clarify outstanding issues from his previous testimony but also spearhead the effort to tilt the trial in favor of his father.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who alleges that Donald Trump and his adult sons inflated their assets to get better loan terms, rested her case against Trump on Thursday after presenting more than 20 witnesses. Judge Arthur Engoron, who already decided in apartial summary judgmentthat the Trumps used fraudulent documents to conduct business, reiterated his finding that Trump committed fraud during an oral argument on Friday.
The judge listed 10 examples of internal contradictions in Trump's financial statements, before saying, "You can't have a correct statement with these kinds of errors."
Donald Trump and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have appealed Engoron's pretrial ruling and have criticized the case as politically motivated.
"Before even having a day in court, I'm apparently guilty of fraud for relying on my accountants to do -- wait for it -- accounting," Trump Jr. said after leaving court on Nov. 2.
'New York pace'
"I should have worn makeup,"Trump Jr. jokedas news photographers snapped shots of him sitting alongside his lawyers on his first day on the witness stand two weeks ago.
The quip typified Trump Jr.'s courtroom demeanor, as he casually answered questions and joked with Engoron on the witness stand.
"I moved to Florida, but I kept the New York pace," he said after Engoron asked him to speak slower at one point.
Asked about the financial statements at the center of the state's case, which Trump Jr. certified while leading the revocable trust his father used to guard against business conflicts while serving as president, Trump Jr. testified that he relied on the external accountants who prepared the document.
"The accountants worked on it. That's what we pay them to do," he said.
While Trump Jr. distanced himself from the creation of his father's statements, he acknowledged that he could have unknowingly provided valuations that were used by accountants in the documents.
"I could have discussed the details of a deal, which they would then infer is going to generate 'X' number of revenue. They may have done that a hundred times with me to get a number, but I may not have known that it was going to be used in aggregate for the statement of financial condition," he said.
The defense's case
In arguments earlier in the trial, Trump attorney Chris Kise offered a potential preview of how the defense may pursue its case.
"The claims of the attorney general involve only successful and profitable loan transactions," Kise said. "There's no victim, there's no complainant, there's no injury."
In addition to pointing out that the banks made money from their loans to Trump, Kise said that the state failed to prove that the lenders would have not loaned money to Trump had they known about the inflated assets.
Defense attorney Jesus Suarez pressed this point in his cross-examination of former Trump Organization VP Ivanka Trump when he asked herwhat Deutsche Bank executives told herabout doing business with her family's firm.
"I was constantly told by [a Deutsche Bank executive] and members of her team how much they appreciated the relationship and were seeking to grow it," Ivanka Trump said.
'Path of least resistance'
Judge Engoron on Thursday handed the defense a victory,denying a motionfrom the New York attorney general to preclude four expert witnesses from testifying for the defense. The judge, however, said he would prevent the witnesses from trying to debate facts already established in the case.
"I am not going to take the path of the least resistance. If it's clearly irrelevant, I am not going to allow it," Engoron said.
The looming threat from Engoron to limit testimony could present a challenge for the defense, which has already accused the judge of beingbiased toward the state.
"If we are going to operate under two sets of standards, that's fine. But I would respectfully suggest that that's incorrect," Kise said last week when Engoron tried to shorten Ivanka Trump's defense questioning.
"I continue to object to your constant insinuations that I have some sort of double standard here. That is just not true," Engoron responded.
"You've won the battle," the judge told defense counsel after clearing the way for their expert witnesses to take the stand. "We'll see if you win the war."
Kise has said that the defense plans to rest its case by Dec. 15.
