It would indeed be a great day if we could watch the New York Trump Organization fraud trial live and in living color. We are missing a lot of action. One of Donald Trump’s expert witnesses washed out on the stand Friday morning, in spectacular fashion. It was during an interlude of testimony discussing Trump’s “trophy properties,” i.e., the ones that Don Junior has compared to the Louvre. (And Eric Trump has compared to the Mona Lisa.) Those trophy properties.
Repetitively, the argument is over the value of said properties and that’s where it all went south.
After an objection for the defense table to a line of questioning, Solomon says that he's seeking to undercut Laposa's testimony yesterday that 2012 under-projeccted 40 Wall Street's value.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 17, 2023
Laposa's report said:
"When such disparate valuations exist, it is prudent and common practice to examine the underlying assumptions."
But Laposa acknowledged under cross-examination that he didn't do that with Trump's valuations.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 17, 2023
Asked if his definition of estimated current value is the same as market value, Laposa said: "It could be."
Solomon shows Laposa his video deposition on this topic from July 19, 2023.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 17, 2023
Trump's attorney Lazaro Fields asks the witness a leading question. The AG's counsel Lou Solomon objects. Sustained.
Tensions between Fields and Solomon flare, as the two raise their voices to each other in legal argument.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 17, 2023
Contradiction of prior testimony is the issue here. That’s what all the shouting’s about. The AG attorney, Louis Solomon, confronted the witness with Trump’s financial statement and directed him specifically to the notes section. The witness’s response was “First time I’ve seen this.”
Laposa responded after reading the note, which supported the attorney general’s contention that the valuations were indeed based on market values.
“You wrote a report accusing the attorney general of bias” by using market values, Solomon lectured Laposa, prompting a sustained objection from the defense.
Solomon’s cross-examination of Laposa concluded after the exchange.
Bottom line, it is not a good defense witness who contradicts his own findings while on the witness stand. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a real world Perry Mason moment. Maybe Trumpty will start throwing ketchup packets at lunch since he doesn’t have bottles.
Beyond that, nobody knows why Trump’s legal team even bothered to put this guy on the stand as an expert witness when he made it clear that finances were not his area of expertise. So what was he doing there? All he did was make things worse.
It will be interesting to see how Trump spins this after the day is out, or on social media. And since his gag order has been temporarily lifted, you can expect it to be ugly.
Who needs the truth when one can depend on the distracted and stupid American voter.
Distracted maybe, but I wouldn’t call them stupid, and certainly not deplorable.
Who mentioned “deplorable?”
But, as the old saw goes, “If the shoe fits . . . .”
Uh, no. I WOULD call them very stupid, and as for WANTING a fascist who has SAID he would “suspend” (ie pay no respect or attention whatsoever to..) the Constitution, what would you call that, other than utterly deplorable?????
Because eventually the truth prevails, specially when voters find out the size of the lies.
And of course, not all voters, just enough voters.
Republicans don’t care about evidence, they don’t need proof, they have morons!
Distracted maybe, but I wouldn’t call them stupid, and certainly not deplorable. They don’t like that.
76 million voted for a fascist pig after watching him destroy children, abandon our allies, steal hundreds of millions of dollars, and kill hundreds of thousands of civilians by lying about covid for a phucking year. The list is long. Now, he’s a convicted rapist, and a national security threat, given boxes of secrets in his bathroom and elsewhere, yet HE’S THE GOP NOMINEE. They ARE deplorable and quite stupid. So let’s hear how that’s not true. Before you make that baseless argument, go over to Daily Kos and read Thom Hartmann’s article about how Hitler rose to power and his analysis of the things Trump HAS DONE and plans to do. I could give a rat’s ass what murderous nazis like. They didn’t like getting shot in WW2, BUT their evil required average folks to go to war and SHOOT THEM DEAD. Your comment is ludicrous or insanely naive. Which is it?
Seriously people, this not a childish game. Educate yourselves, RW Nazism is TERRORISM!
“nobody knows why Trump’s legal team even bothered to put this guy on the stand as an expert witness when he made it clear that finances were not his area of expertise. So what was he doing there?”
Um, let me guess. Because they couldn’t find anybody who actually is an expert witness in this area that was willing to testify in support of such a bullshit claim, because it would ruin their professional reputation?
So is what tramp has done his entire life. He’s burned every bridge he’s ever crossed, so finding credible people to stand up for him, besides his children, is quite difficult.
Tramp has no friends, only contracts with people that benefit himself either financially or physically.
I assume he paid this guy to show up in court for him, and I also suspect he will retract that payment because this witness actually hurt him…another bridge burned.
You’re being awfully generous to his children, particularly the evil spawn from his marriage to trophy wife #1 aka Ivana. Among the numerous adjectives I use to describe them credible sure as hell isn’t one I’d apply to any of them.
Trump’s team is like Trump, they’re their own worst enemy. It’s fun to watch them fail.