As always, I’ll do my best to live toot reports when they start. This will be the thread.
1/…🧵
Via Klasfeld:
Good morning from #NewYork.
Trump’s gagged, and his ex-accountant spills the beans.
Those are just two of the news items that came out of Day Two of the civil fraud trial.
Follow us for Day Three #TrumpTrial #legal
2/ Trump arrived at the courthouse and @atrupar posted a vid in which Trump says this AFTER a gag order was imposed on him:
Trump dehumanizes Letitia James as a "political animal"
And this AFTER his team failed to ask for a jury trial:
Trump: "If I had a jury we'd win this case very easily, but I don't have a jury ... this is the beginning of communism."
3/ Klasfeld: (ICYMI, this is a judge with a sense of humor as well as gravitas)
Trump's lawyer Jose Suarez tells the judge he's gotten the message: "I also understand that in the Great State of NY it's called a triplex," pronouncing it like "triple" instead of "tri-."
Co-counsel Chris Kise quips: "Judge, in the South, it's just called apartment."
Engoron asks if they have triplexes in South.
Kise replies: That's why we call it an apartment.
Bender's testimony begins shortly after that.
4/🙄 👉🏼After Engoron chides Trump's attorney against performative questioning by saying "There's no jury here," Trump audibly groans and mumbles a reaction.👈🏼🙄
Questioning turns to an engagement continuance form between Mazars and Trump Org from 2016-'17.
🙄 👉🏼 Trump keeps noisily (but, for those of us in the gallery, mostly inaudibly) complaining about the judge's remarks throughout the questioning. 👈🏼🙄
5/ Having a bad day, #Trump? 🎻
Via erica orden:
Trump is more animated today. Earlier, he shook his head & sighed after the judge made a quip about no jury being present. A few moments ago, he threw up his hands and muttered something after a lawyer asked the judge to instruct the witness, Donald Bender, to speak more clearly.
He is again throwing up his hands and muttering to his lawyer Alina Habba. He has been looking at papers she is handing him.
6/ Trump’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, cont’d.
Klasfeld:
Since the time of the last post, Trump appears to have taken out his frustrations on paper, jotting down notes and whispering to his lawyers. He sometimes shakes his head and points.
This is as animated and worked up as I have seen Trump inside a courtroom so far.
7/ Klasfeld:
Trump's settled down considerably.
Back to cross-ex.
Trump's lawyer Jose Suarez says the "buck stopped with you, Mr. Bender," a proposition the witness denies.
"We were not engaged—compilation did not require us to do" audits.
"We were not engaged to do method appraisals."
8/ Via Pagliery:
Trump's combative lawyer, Jesus Suarez, finally gets to the point after questioning Bender about accounting minutiae for an hour-plus.
Bender said he didn't closely examine each massive property listed in Trump's personal financial statements.
He failed his job, Suarez said.
9/ Suarez reads from an accounting manual that describes responsibilities:
"Ordinarily an accountant can compile personal financial statements based on the individual's representation of the estimated current values of assets and the estimated current amounts of liabilities..."
"At a minimum, however, the accountant should obtain an understanding of the methods by which the individual determined the estimated current values of significant assets..."
10/ Paglieri, contd:
Suarez is trying to recast Trump's lies as his accountant's incompetence.
We're on a short break, and the Trump campaign keeps pumping out attacks on this trial.
It's so unbecoming. [I won't post the screen grab]
11/ We're starting again. The judge warned that he'd start in 15 min, even if certain people aren't here on time. Lo and behold, Trump hasn't walked back in.
His lawyers are here.
Where is he?
👉🏼In what's become typical MAGA fashion, Trump's lawyers are now trying delay tactics
***during*** the trial.👈🏼
Suarez keeps asking insanely long questions about accounting arcanum, repeating them for each year from 2020 back to 2011.
👉🏼Judge has had enough.
"Jesus!" he exclaims.👈🏼
12/ Kise & Robert argue they must repeat questions for each year, as case depends on a possible date cutoff (statute of limitations).
They cite how this is a "big case."
👉🏼Judge doesn't care, says they're wasting time & tells them to ask if answers for all years are the same.👈🏼
Trump just walked in, forcing the judge to pause for a minute.
He sat back down, and Kise is whispering in his ear.
13/ Klasfeld:
Notable in his 1st post-gag order Truth Social posts & remarks:
* Not a word about Engoron or, most relevantly, his staff.
* Toned down (but not eliminated) personal attacks generally.
* Silence on his (limited) muzzling.
(He's not forbidden from complaining about the case.)
14/ Paglieri:
Suarez at it again.
"In 2013 with Trump Tower, you were able to determine that the statement of financial condition did not fail to disclosure the estimated current value of that asset?"
"For Niketown in 2013, you were able..."
"And in 2013 as it relates to 40 Wall St, you..."
Judge: "Counselor, can we lump this all together against using the same principles?"
Suarez agrees. Then keeps at it.
💥Judge: "I don't talk just to hear myself. I'm precluding you from doing this."
15/ Trump's lawyers, oy!!
Klasfeld:
Suarez keeps going line by line, Engoron curtly cuts him off, telling him to streamline. Trump's lawyer keeps insisting it's necess in light of witness's testimony.
Engoron asks how much longer cross-ex will be.
Suarez says it's end today
NYAG's lawyer: "TODAY?"
NYAG's lawyer: "There's no jury. I don't know who we're performing for."
Engoron: "Mr. Bender is not on trial here."
Kise: I would disagree w that.
Habba jumps up and echoes Kise's remark
17/ Folks....
Paglieri:
👉🏼Things are blowing up here. Suarez is trying to be as repetitive as possible.
The judge is starting to raise his voice.
"You're not allowed to waste time. That is what this is becoming."
Kise: "We will attempt to streamline this as much as possible."
Judge: "Doesn't seem like that yet."
Kise: "The devils in the details. I'm sorry, but it is."
👉🏼Judge: "This is ridiculous! To the reporters: I'm pounding the bench again. this is ri•di•cu•lous!"
18/ AG lawyer Kevin Wallage wonders: "There's no jury. I don't think we're performing..."
Judge: "Mr. Bender's not on trial here."
Kise: "I would very much disagree with that. He was the CPA. He has certain responsibilities under the AICPA standards. If he didn't meet those..."
Judge: I do this for every trial and never get an objection.
19/ Habba: "This trial's different, because we don't even have clarity on the years in question. This is insane. we haven't gotten one answer out of him. He has no memory as we sit here."
Kise: "The government brought a case accusing my client of a staggering fraud... that is year by year... in this year they made these changes, in that year they made those changes..."
"We will attempt to streamline this as much as possible."
👉🏼Judge: "Doesn't seem like that yet!"
20/ Judge: "There's no point in going through each line. I'm just being logical here."
Kise: "Let me make sure I understand..."
His tone is so condescending.
Kise: "Youre asking us to go line by line, but just ask the same question for each line?"
"I've never had to negotiate how to ask questions."
The transcript cannot capture Kise's tone here. He's talking to the judge as if he's a law student.
21/ [Trump's strategy, they got nothin' else:]
Kise: "I think it makes a poor record, frankly."
Trump's lead lawyer here is repeatedly foreshadowing a massive appellate fight that will try to render this entire 3-month trial null and void.
Judge: "I'm just being logical here. I'm not going to let you ask every single line. You're not going to get away with this."
You could cut through the tension in this courtroom with a butter knife.
Kise: "For the record, I object to this."
22/ Wait. Trump... LIED? 🤥
Klasfeld:
Some news:
Trump intends to fly out to Florida soon, despite telling a judge there that he'd be in New York all week
Back to Paglieri, cont'd from above toot:
And yet! Suarez kept doing it. Are Trump's lawyers being this brazen because he's watching them?
Judge Engoron's tone of voice dropped.
"I have a thick skin, but it's really being pierced here."
23/ Via journalist Ahmed Baba:
It’s important to note Trump isn’t required to be there. This is a choice.
He’s there for a few reasons:
1. Intimidation of witnesses & the judge (not working)
2. To spread lies outside the courtroom, rally his base, & fundraise
3. To micromanage his defense lawyers, who suck
24/ Yup. Mission accomplished.
Via Klasfeld:
Reminder:
Trump vowed to be here all week in order to bump his scheduled deposition in his lawsuit against Michael Cohen from this past Tuesday until Oct. 9.
He succeeded in delaying it.
Lunch break. Back at 2:15 p.m. ET.
25/ We're back from lunch break. Trump has apparently left for the day. AG spoke outside courtroom:
"I will not sit idly by & subvert the law. And lastly, I will not be bullied. The Donald Trump Show is over. This was nothing more than a political stunt, a fundraising stop."
(More in next toot)
27/ Via Orden, confirming the more jovial side of the judge:
Judge Engoron just told the courtroom that it is AG lawyer Kevin Wallace's birthday, prompting many in the courtroom to applaud.
"I just happen to be surrounded by the people I love," Wallace told the judge.
28/ Paglieri:
Court is back in session. Eric Trump is here, but his father is gone.
The AG's next witness is Camron Harris, a CPA at Whitley Penn in Texas.
He's talking about accounting work they did for the Trump Org. They worked with Jeff McConney, the Trump company controller.
29/ Via Paglieri, and mind you, this is right after James' remarks and the judge's recent gag order... which he knows how to get around:
Trump on Truth Social:
"The whole trial is a Democrat inspired HOAX, just like Russia, Russia, Russia, the SPYING on my campaign, the 51 Fake “Intelligence” Agents, the FISA forgeries, and everything else. THIS IS A TOTAL WITCH HUNT, WHERE I AM NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO HAVE A JURY."
30/ Harris, CPA, finally clears up what acctants wd do for Trump by "compiling" his personal finan statements.
It's not an audit. They only look for "obvious errors"
"Compilation wd be your lowest assurance..review wd be the next level."
Sounds useless to me
Keep in mind T's lawyers keep jabbing at acctants for failing to spot T's own massive price inflation
They're trying to pin this on bean counters.
In reality, hired acctants just did a cursory look—wholly based on Trump's own claims.
31/ 📢REMINDER: I'm ultra consumed with compiling these reports from multiple sources.
I'm not able to reply, sometimes not able to read, your wonderful responses.
I try to "like" your replies instead, to acknowledge them.
The preceding was a public service announcement.
Now back to our regular programming as scheduled.
32/ Whitley Penn's docs describe Trump Org employee Patrick Byrne as the main point of contact and the "primary preparer of the valuations."
👉🏼Expect him to be important later in the trial.
And no! He's not the Overstock guy who became a MAGA conspiracy theorist.👈🏼
>>Paglieri: Correction to my earlier tweet. The Trump Org employee is Patrick BIRNEY.
My bad. It's hard to hear sometimes.
33/ Bender back on the stand, and Trump's lawyer (Suarez) is questioning him again.
Suarez: Have you discussed your testimony with anyone?
Bender tries to claim that's "privileged." Judge chuckles, shakes his head. No it's not. Forces him to answer.
Bender had lunch with lawyers.
34/ It was unclear whether they were his lawyers or just professional associates. Things moved right along.
Suarez keeps questioning Bender on his inability to catch discrepancies.
35/ Klasfeld:
As proceedings end, Justice Engoron's clerk asks Trump's lawyer Jose Suarez to estimate how long cross-examination of accountant Donald Bender.
Suarez says by the end of the day.
The clerk: "Let's intend to have another witness ready just in case."
Paglieri:
We're done for the day.
Looks like Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney might be testifying sometime tomorrow.
End of thread.
Thank you.... excellent job keeping this all together....😎
Thank you for doing these threads!
That's a really important distinction. That they are trying to muddy.
Yeah, a smoking gun. That would be super sweet. But I don't think they need it.
I just relaxed reading this. He's gone.
Yep. You Cassandra you. Bummer.
I only meant that it's amazing how much relief I felt when he was no longer in court aggravating everyone including me. The world was filled with bluebirds. Sigh. But yeah, the vomit continues. He is so desperate now, really running scared.
@JaneDoeTheFirst @GottaLaff i dig it.
Just have not felt relaxed since he let himself loose on the scene
He needs to ... Just go away
@lolonurse @gfjacobs @GottaLaff
Heh. I really like harsh and evil imaginings. Mirrors my own. 👍
"... comments that unfortunately appeal to the bottom of our humanity."
exactly where trump resides....
@GottaLaff While simultaneously pissing off the judge who will decide the amount of the fine TFG will have to pay. Can't think more than a step ahead apparently.
Honestly, who cares if a deposition gets delayed. It will happen at some point.
He's using the system which still ascribes good faith to him. Hold his lying lawyers in contempt? Ye gods.
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