Donald Trump’s legal team wrapped up the first week of his defense case in the New York civil fraud trial as it continues to build the former president’s defense around experts who offered a different interpretation of the rules the attorney general says Trump and his business violated to commit fraud.
Trump’s team presented six expert witnesses on topics like accounting, real estate and surety insurance as they fight the attorney general’s allegations – and Judge Arthur Engoron’s earlier ruling – that the company committed fraud.
Engoron, as he had indicated he would, rejected Trump’s request for a mistrial.
However, Engoron ruled in Trump’s favor frequently in the courtroom this week, allowing witness testimony and evidentiary submissions over objections from the New York attorney general’s office.
Engoron often attributed the lenient rulings to his effort to avoid a reversal or retrial of the case.
“There’s no jury, there’s no prejudice,” the judge said. “Allow them to present their defense.”
And in a victory for Trump, a New York appeals court temporarily blocked Engoron’s gag order on parties that prevented them from talking about his staff.
Here’s what to know from the week in court:
Donald Trump Jr. returns to the stand
Donald Trump Jr. was the first witness in the defense case Monday returning to the stand for a second time at trial.
Trump Jr., who is also a named defendant, offered the court a colorful history of the Trump Organization mostly cribbed from promotional materials posted on the company’s website.
The attorney general’s lawyers argued most of the promotional photo-laden testimony was irrelevant but Engoron overruled the objections, saying it was relevant and interesting.
In Trump Jr.’s narrative, his…
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