The morning was occupied with going over rudimentary issues and defendant Donald Trump made the anticipated obligatory defensive comments about what a “crazy trial” this is. The afternoon is devoted, apparently, to specific details and answers to detailed questions, especially financial ones, don’t lend themselves to rhetorical pyrotechnics. Without his tools of inflammatory speech and accusation, Trump’s already tripping himself up.
The focus of the questioning right now is Trump’s obligations to Deutsche Bank under certain loan agreements. One of those conditions was a requirement that he maintain a net worth of not less than $2.5 billion and that he submit certifications each year attesting to this. Put another way, Trump understood his certifications were relevant and necessary to Deutsche Bank, according to Lisa Rubin, who is live blogging this on Twitter.
Spoiler: Nothing in the lending agreement indicates that a cash balance of any particular amount would have been an adequate substitute for the statements of financial condition, nor does Trump insist otherwise.
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 6, 2023
Bingo. The statements of financial condition are relevant and Deutsche Bank very much cared about them. That contradicts his statement, “They were not really documents that the banks paid much attention to,” made a few hours earlier.
We are now looking at yet another loan agreement with Deutsche Bank that contains representations about the accuracy of Trump’s prior financial statements and that he will maintain no less of $50 million in unencumbered liquid assets and a total net worth of $2.5 billion.
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 6, 2023
Was that “ton of cash” that Eric spoke of from Russia? Eric used to say, after all, that Russia took care of the Trumps rather well. Junior famously said in 2008 that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” And then Eric said, ‘Well, we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.’ That caused Donald’s feathers to get ruffled and he made this famous statement, remember this one?
Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
And you know what they say about a double negative, it’s a positive. Donald, Donald, you give yourself away even when you’re trying so hard not to.
Trump agrees that the proof of his compliance would have been in his statements of financial condition—and says he believes he complied with his obligations, including the requirement that he maintain accurate books and records.
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 6, 2023
Um…excuse me? Did Allen Weisselberg go to prison for maintaining accurate records? Wow, that was a real flub if that happened. But either that happened or Trump just told a lie on the witness stand, which one do you suppose is the truth?
Guess that’s why he took the concrete guys advice…since it was a ton of cash!
— san (@sandzNJ) November 6, 2023
Good point. With a ton of cash lying around, you might want to get a loan paid off before Junior finds it and who knows where it might go…(snifff)…..
Trump is now being asked about his signed certification for the year ending June 30, 2015, which Deutsche Bank required in connection with three outstanding loans. He doesn’t know whether the statements had corrected the value of the triplex or Seven Springs, but insisted the…
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 6, 2023
And then the defendant gets defensive, what else?
Wallace asks if it’s Trump’s position that the statements of financial condition did not inflate his assets. He won’t answer directly, instead saying they were fully protected by disclaimers.
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 6, 2023
Now look closely at this. This is good.
Bear this point in mind, Kise asking if they can (once again) ask for a mistrial or directed verdict, because that’s where we’ll pick up next.
Your “… The afternoon is devoted, apparently, to specific details and answers … Without his tools of inflammatory speech and accusation, Trump’s already tripping himself up…” Love it. Go for it Don Don. You’re an odds-on bet that you’ll really face-plant as he trippy-up and trips-over his grandiose lying buffoonery. Priceless predictable, and unmissable, entertainment.
As Tommy Lee Jones told Jim Carrey,
I cannot abide by your buffoonery.
How profound.
“Mazars never complained”
Well, not until they recused themselves, “The firm, Mazars USA, said in a letter that it could no longer stand behind the annual statements, which are central to an investigation by the New York attorney general.”
and further,
“Donald J. Trump’s longtime accounting firm cut ties with him and his family business last week, saying it could no longer stand behind a decade of annual financial statements it prepared for the Trump Organization, court documents show.
The decision, which was disclosed to the company in a Feb. 9 letter from the accounting firm, comes amid criminal and civil investigations into whether Mr. Trump illegally inflated the value of his assets. The firm, Mazars USA, compiled the financial statements based on information the former president and his company provided.
The letter instructed the Trump Organization to essentially retract the documents, known as statements of financial condition, from 2011 to 2020. In the letter, Mazars noted that the firm had not “as a whole” found material discrepancies between the information the Trump Organization provided and the actual value of Mr. Trump’s assets. But given what it called “the totality of circumstances” — including Mazars’ own investigation — the letter directed the Trump Organization to notify anyone who received the statements that they should no longer rely on them.
The statements, which Mr. Trump used to secure loans, are at the center of the two law enforcement investigations into whether Mr. Trump exaggerated the value of his properties to defraud his lenders into providing him the best possible loan terms.”
from NY Times coverage from 14 Feb 2022, does Dimwit Donny forget this in quoting ‘Mazars never complained’.