(ATLANTA) — The first batch of 450 potential jurors will gather at the Fulton County courthouse Friday morning to begin the jury selection process for the Oct. 23 trial of Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, two of former President’s Donald Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case.
Jurors will be told to expect a five-month trial, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee said during a hearing Monday, which was scheduled to hash out the final details of the questionnaire that potential jurors will fill out.
“Bring a book,” McAfee said of Friday’s process. “We’ll be there for about an hour or two while they fill out questionnaires.”
Individual questioning of the first batch of potential jurors will then start next week.
Powell, Chesebro, Trump and 16 others pleaded not guilty in August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Defendant Scott Hall subsequently took a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to tampering with voting machine equipment.
Chesebro is accused in the indictment of drafting a strategy to use so-called “alternate electors” to prevent Joe Biden from receiving 270 electoral votes, while Powell, a former Trump campaign attorney, is accused of helping tamper with voting machines in Coffee County.
Powell’s attorney said that Powell is likely to attend the proceedings on Friday, which would mark her first in-person appearance in the case.
On Monday, attorneys for Powell, Chesebro, and the state debated which questions prospective jurors will have to answer when they come to court on Friday. Among the questions considered: “Would you feel nervous or concerned about returning a verdict, depending on how the public would respond?”
An attorney for Powell said witnesses expected during the trial include Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, former Trump adviser Michael Flynn, and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.
Prosecutors have also previously indicated they will seek testimony from Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel and current Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn.
In total, defense attorneys have said the government has given them a list of over 180 witnesses.
Also Monday, after Chesebro won his motion last month to interview the grand jurors who returned the indictment over concerns that the indictment was not “properly returned,” the judge said that two members of the grand jury had agreed to be interviewed.
The interviews are scheduled to be conducted Friday afternoon at the Fulton County courthouse, the judge said.
In a separate ruling Monday, former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was granted a hearing by the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals over his continued effort to move his Fulton County case into federal court.
The appeals court set oral arguments for Dec. 15 after receiving briefings on the issue from both Meadows and the state of Georgia.
The appeal from Meadows came after a federal judge last month denied his request to move his Fulton County case based on a federal law that calls for the removal of criminal proceedings when someone is charged for actions they allegedly took as a federal official acting “under color” of their office.
In denying Meadows’s request, lower court Judge Steve Jones found that Meadows’ actions as charged in the indictment “were taken on behalf of the Trump campaign” — not on behalf of his duties with the federal government.
(WASHINGTON) — In a decision that could affect the way Donald Trump campaigns against his political opponents as he seeks to reclaim the presidency, the federal judge in Trump’s federal election interference case has granted part of the government’s request for a narrowly tailored gag order against the former president.
In a hearing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that Trump is prohibited from making statements or “reposting” statements “publicly targeting” special counsel Jack Smith and his staff, as well as Chutkan’s staff and the staff of other D.C. district court personnel.
She is additionally barring him from making statements about potential witnesses in the case and the substance of their potential testimony.
The decision represents a stunning moment in Trump’s pursuit of reelection, placing a court-ordered restriction on much of the rhetoric that is central to his campaign. Among the attacks Trump has made that could be restricted by the order: calling Smith “deranged” and a “thug,” and saying that then-Vice President Mike Pence did the wrong thing on Jan. 6 — which has been his main line of attack against the former vice president.
Still to be determined is whether Trump will even abide by the order and, if he doesn’t, what lengths Judge Chutkan will go to in order to enforce it.
The judge said her ruling will not prohibit Trump from publicly attacking Pence, now his political rival in the 2024 presidential race, as part of their campaign against one another — but that Trump is now barred from making statements about Pence’s actions related to the Jan. 6 certification of the 2020 vote and events leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Judge Chutkan said she will not impose additional restrictions on statements Trump might make about Washington, D.C., or its jury pool, or statements made criticizing the government, including the Justice Department or the Biden administration.
However, Chutkan said, “His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify and implicitly encourage violence against public servants who are simply doing their job.”
“Mr. Trump can certainly claim he’s being unfairly prosecuted, but I cannot imagine any other criminal case in which the defendant is permitted to call the prosecutor ‘deranged,’ or a ‘thug,'” she said. “And I will not permit it here, simply because the defendant is running a political campaign.”
While she said Trump “may still vigorously seek public support” as a presidential candidate and criticize the Biden administration, his First Amendment rights as a criminal defendant do “not allow [Trump] to launch a pretrial smear campaign against participating government staff, their families and foreseeable witnesses.”
“No other criminal defendant would be allowed to do so, and I’m not going to allow it in this case,” she said.
Trump in August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged — all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team had urged the judge to impose restrictions on Trump in order to protect potential jurors, citing the former president’s conduct on social media regarding people involved in his various legal battles.
The judge pushed back during Monday’s hearing after attorneys for Trump called a proposed gag order on the former president “censorship.”
“We are in here today because of statements that he’s made,” Judge Chutkan said before calling for recess.
Earlier, after Judge Chutkan went through different categories of statements Trump has made — including a social media post in which Trump that called D.C. “a filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to the nation” — Trump attorney John Lauro pushed back, saying Trump’s statements were simply criticizing the Biden administration, and were about “public policy.”
“Those statements can be a double-edged sword,” Chutkan replied.
Lauro, who kept referring to the proposed gag order as censorship, was then interrupted by Chutkan, who said, “Mr. Lauro, you keep saying censorship. There is no question that a court is entitled to draw restrictions.”
“We’re talking about restrictions to ensure there is a fair administration of justice,” the judge added.
The judge specifically asked Lauro about a Truth Social post Trump made during his ongoing fraud trial in New York City, in which he posted a false statement about the judge’s law clerk, prompting the judge in that case to issue an oral order restricting all parties from speaking publicly about his court staff.
Chutkan said she was less concerned about Trump’s attacks targeting herself, but said the post “deeply disturbed” her and she asked Lauro repeatedly to say whether he believed such conduct was appropriate.
Lauro, who appeared uncomfortable, said that if he were advising Trump, he would not tell him to do something similar again.
When the judge asked whether she should implement an order similar to the one posed by the judge in New York that bars Trump from public posts about court staff, Lauro replied that such an order wouldn’t be necessary because if Chutkan were to directly admonish Trump for his statements he would follow her directions.
“I will instruct my client along with what you’ve just suggested,” Lauro said.
Judge Chutkan also read a social media post by Trump that suggested General Mark Milley could have been executed in the past for conduct in office.
“To write in all caps ‘DEATH,’ about someone who is a potential witness — doesn’t that go too far?” Chutkan asked Lauro.
Lauro defended the statements, saying Trump was clearly referencing the fact that that Milley’s conduct fell within the legal definition of treason, and that, historically, the punishment for such a crime was death.
“If you suggest that someone is deserving of execution, then it’s not a far stretch to imagine a situation when one of the millions of followers of this person decides to go ahead and do that,” Chutkan said.
Chutkan also asked prosecutors whether the proposed gag order would prevent Trump from making public attacks on the Biden administration, such as calling President Biden “Crooked Joe Biden,” to which prosecutor Molly Gaston Gaston answered that such statements would not violate the order.
On the other hand, said Gaston, Trump’s attacks calling the Justice Department “The Department of Injustice” would present some concern, given the influence it could ultimately have on the jury pool.
When Judge Chutkan asked Gaston whether an unfounded statement by Trump on the prosecution being directed by President Biden would be barred by the order, Gaston said it would not because Biden is not a witness.
“I’m sitting here thinking George Orwell would have a field day” with what the government is proposing, Lauro said of the proposed order at one point.
“George Orwell would definitely have a field day,” Chutkan responded back, sarcastically.
The judge then asked Lauro, a former career prosecutor himself, answer whether such statements would be appropriate from any defendant in a criminal case.
“What I want you to do is answer my question as to why a criminal defendant should be allowed to call a prosecutor a “thug,” she said. “Tell me how the word ‘thug’ is justified here.”
“It may not be the word that you like, but he’s entitled under the First Amendment to make those statements,” Lauro said.
Earlier , after Lauro began his remarks by accusing the government of mounting a political operation to silence Trump as he runs for president in 2024, the judge said, “Let me stop you right there, Mr. Lauro.”
“Mr. Trump is a criminal defendant. He’s facing four felony charges,” she said. “He must comply with conditions of release. He does not have the right to say and do exactly as he pleases.”
Lauro pushed back against the proposed order, saying Trump’s statements and posts are about “news of the day” and about issues related to his campaign.
“I understand you have a message you want to get out,” Chutkan said in a later exchange.
Lauro continued to press forward, arguing that President Joe Biden would not be barred under such an order to speak publicly about the case.
“[Biden] is not a party to this case,” Chutkan said. “He’s not subject to conditions of release.”
She later added, “Politics stops at this courthouse door.”
Chutkan also questioned the special counsel’s office on what punishments should be in place should Trump violate any order, should she impose one. Gaston answered that penalties could include home detention, financial penalties, an admonishment from Judge Chutkan herself or even a reconsideration of his pretrial release.
Lauro responded that enforcement of the order would be “impossible.”
He also argued Trump has not, to date, violated his conditions of release as previously imposed by the court.
“There’s been no threats, no accusations against any witnesses,” Lauro said.
Trump’s federal election interference trial is currently scheduled to begin in March.
(NEW YORK) — Mississippi River water levels have reached new record lows from Missouri to Arkansas, preventing shipments of grain and other important goods from making their way downriver during one of the busiest times of year, according to data from the National Weather Service (NWS).
The phenomenon is a repeat of last year, when hundreds of barges sat idle along the Mississippi River because of shallow waters.
On Monday morning, Mississippi River surface levels in both Memphis, Tennessee, and Osceola, Arkansas, were recorded at -11.67 feet below normal levels, according to the NWS. Low stage for both locations is -5 feet.
A long stretch of hot, dry weather has caused record-low water levels on the Mississippi River for two years in a row – an extremely rare consecutive-year phenomena, data shows. Much of the region surrounding the Mississippi River is experiencing moderate to severe drought, with exceptional drought recorded in the lower basin states, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
In the past, extremely low river levels on the Mississippi typically only occurred once every 10 years or fewer, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hydrologist Jeff Graschel told ABC News.
Last year, hundreds of water vessels, including shipping containers, recreational boaters and even cruise ships, ran aground on the Mississippi in mud and sand that was previously covered. Water levels were so low that hundreds of barges were stuck for weeks as they attempted to transport crops down the river.
To make the river navigable, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers routinely dredges the Mississippi, removing sediment and debris from the riverbed and making the navigation channel deep enough for barges. But periods of intense drought require more dredging.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi Valley Division started dredging at known spots that need more frequent maintenance, as well as contracting extra dredges to assist with the work.
In dire situations, the Corps can also release water from upstream reservoirs to replenish the waterway.
The Mississippi River is one of the most important trade routes in the continental U.S., with September and October marking the start of the prime time for grains to move down the river to be shipped through New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico following the fall harvest.
Jeff Worsham, the Osceola port manager for Poinsett Rice and Grain, an Arkansas-based farming company, told ABC News that though harvests are about 90% complete, farmers are still “struggling along” to move their harvests down the Mississippi.
MORE: Barges idling along Mississippi River sign of supply chain woes to come should drought worsen: Experts
Barges are not being filled to capacity because they are hitting the bottom of the river at the loading dock, Worsham said, adding that partial loads are being added to the barges once they hit deeper waters.
In addition, the power plant in Osceola has not been able to generate hydropower for three weeks because insufficient water is passing through the intake pipes, Worsham said.
It does not appear that the Mississippi River watershed will see any relief in the next week, forecasts show. Some rain is possible in the Ohio Valley and the upper river, but it likely won’t be enough to end the drought and replenish water levels.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.
Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr., and Trump Organization executives are accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order get more favorable loan terms. The former president has denied all wrongdoing and his attorneys have argued that Trump’s alleged inflated valuations were a product of his business skill.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 16, 10:23 AM EDT
Judge says he’ll clarify upcoming schedule
On the heels of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s decision to delay his testimony, Judge Engoron said that “the schedule for the rest of this week is somewhat up in the air.”
The judge, however, promised to offer clarity about the trial schedule later today.
Engoron also acknowledged the anticipated return on Tuesday of former President Trump to the courtroom.
When the judge, while waiting for a witness to enter, joked about arguing before an empty chair, defense attorney Chris Kise replied, “It won’t be empty tomorrow.”
Engoron responded with a smile, saying “So I hear.”
Oct 16, 8:11 AM EDT
Michael Cohen delays testimony as trial enters Week 3
The civil fraud trial of former President Trump, his adult sons, and Trump Organization executives enters its third week with a notable schedule change.
Trump’s former lawyer and so-called “fixer” Michael Cohen, who was initially scheduled to begin his testimony on Tuesday, has delayed his court appearance due to a preexisting medical condition.
“I look forward to testifying and correcting the record as to the multiple misstatements and responses by previous witnesses who stated … ‘I don’t recall.’ Unfortunately for them, I do,” Cohen told ABC News on Saturday.
Trump is expected to attend multiple days of the trial beginning on Tuesday, according to sources familiar with his plans.
In the meantime, Trump Organization executive Patrick Birney is expected to conclude his testimony this morning.
Birney is scheduled to be followed on the stand by Mark Hawthorn, the chief accounting officer at Trump Hotels.
Oct 13, 2:32 PM EDT
Ex-CFO wanted inflated value for Trump Tower, exec says
Trump Organization executive Patrick Birney was once pressured by his former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, to use an unrealistic metric to inflate the value of Trump Tower, Birney testified.
Birney testified that he consulted a generic real estate report to determine a 2.67% capitalization rate to measure the value of Trump Tower — despite an executive at real estate company Cushman and Wakefield recommending a higher rate, which would have decreased Trump Tower’s value.
When Weisselberg and Birney discussed the topic in a Trump Tower restroom, Birney said he encouraged the CFO to use a higher, more realistic capitalization rate that would be more sustainable, in order to maintain the building’s value in the future, Birney testified.
“I think he said, just use 2.67%,” Birney recalled. “I said I am fine using that capitalization rate, but I am worried that if we are only using 2.67, the building is so old, next year there might not be a cap rate as low as 2.67.”
The New York attorney general alleges that Weisselberg “systematically rejected” multiple valuations of Trump Tower in 2019 that would have lowered its value between $161 and $224 million.
Court has adjourned for the day, with Birney scheduled to continue his testimony on Monday morning.
Oct 13, 12:04 PM EDT
Firm mulled using presidential ‘premium’ to boost net worth
Trump Organization executives considered adding $144 million to Trump’s net worth based on a “premium for presidential property” in 2017, according to testimony of executive Patrick Birney.
The premium, which was applied to draft versions of Trump’s financial statements, varied between 15% and 35% for Trump’s properties, including his Mar-a-Lago Club, which was described in documents as the “presidential winter residence,” according to materials entered into evidence.
The potential adjustment followed a $200 million shortfall between Trump’s 2016 and 2017 statements, after a Forbes magazine article prompted executives to revalue the former president’s penthouse, state attorneys said.
“Who directed you?” state attorney Eric Haren asked Birney about adding the premium.
“I don’t really remember, but probably Allen Weisselberg,” Birney said.
Birney testified that the premium was eventually removed from the 2017 statement, according to a document that tracked changes made to the statement. He did not provide additional context about why the premium was removed.
Oct 13, 8:26 AM EDT
Assistant VP to continue testimony
Trump Organization assistant VP Patrick Birney will continue his testimony this morning on Day Nine of the trial.
Roughly 40 years younger than ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg — his former boss and the previous witness in the trial — Birney testified yesterday that he largely relied on Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney to put together Trump’s annual financial statements.
“I was not the final decision maker,” Birney said.
State attorney Kevin Wallace highlighted Birney’s statements during his opening statement as evidence of an alleged conspiracy within the Trump Organization to inflate Trump’s net worth.
“He likes to see it go up,” Birney said, according to Wallace.
If Birney completes his testimony today, Trump Hotels chief accounting officer Mark Hawthorn is scheduled to testify next.
Patrick Birney had been working for the Trump Organization for more than two years when a magazine article prompted him to change Trump’s financial statement, the assistant VP testified.
“There was an article written that stated that Mr. Trump’s triplex was actually 10,900 or so square feet,” Birney said, referring to a 2017 Forbes magazine article that alleged Trump had been lying about the size of his residence. (Judge Engoron decided in his partial summary judgment last month that the size was misrepresented.)
Birney testified that Trump Organization employees, including former CFO Allen Weisselberg, “verified” the size and adjusted the next year’s statement of financial condition. As a result, the penthouse was valued at $116 million in 2017 — a steep drop from the 2016 valuation of $327 million.
Birney testified that he looked up comparable properties to come up with the value of the apartment going forward.
“I Google searched recent penthouse sales in Manhattan,” Birney said, eventually landing on an web article about a penthouse purchased by billionaire Ken Griffin that set the record for most expensive home ever sold in the United States.
A price-per-square-foot for Trump’s penthouse was determined based on that record-breaking sale, Birney said.
When Birney was tasked with finding comparable properties to value Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, he similarly searched for nearby Palm Beach homes. However, Trump signed a deed in 2002 that limited Mar-a-Lago’s purpose to a social club, the New York attorney general alleges, making the price of nearby residences irrelevant.
Asked if he was ever told about the deed by anyone at the Trump Organization, Birney replied, “I don’t believe I was.” Instead, he said he first learned about it during an “interview with the attorney general’s office.”
Court then adjourned for the day, with Birney’s testimony scheduled to resume tomorrow morning.
Oct 12, 3:58 PM EDT
Trump Organization assistant VP says CFO had final say
Trump Organization assistant vice president Patrick Birney testified that CFO Allen Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney had the final say on Trump’s financial documents when he worked under them.
“I was not the final decision maker,” Birney said.
Birney joined the Trump Organization in 2015, a few years after he graduated from the University of Michigan. He began helping with Trump’s statement of financial condition in 2016 and eventually took over preparing the vital financial document, though he acknowledged in court that he initially lacked some basic knowledge about accounting and finance.
Asked if he ever had valued a property using a capitalization rate, he replied, “I don’t think so.”
Birney said he would often turn to McConney if he needed specific documents, and that he reviewed drafts of the statement with Weisselberg.
“He would review drafts with me that I would provide him,” Birney said. He later added, “Allen Weisselberg had the authority to approve everything.”
Oct 12, 3:45 PM EDT
Trump Organization assistant VP takes the stand
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has completed his direct examination, although he might be called back to testify by either the attorney general or the defense, Judge Arthur Engoron said.
“I am lifting the prohibition on discussing the case with counsel or anyone else,” Engoron said about Weisselberg.
Trump Organization assistant vice president Patrick Birney, who took over managing Trump’s statement of financial condition after controller Jeffrey McConney, took the stand following Weisselberg.
Oct 12, 3:06 PM EDT
Ex-Trump CFO testifies about family members’ roles
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg, under questioning from state attorney Louis Solomon, addressed the degree to which Donald Trump’s three adult children — Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka — were involved in the day-to-day running of the Trump Organization during the period from 2011-2022.
“They wanted to get up to speed on how the business was running,” Weisselberg said, noting that Trump’s run for president accelerated their engagement in the company.
Emails entered into evidence from around that time suggested that the three Trump children requested financial information about the company’s operations.
During one email exchange, Weisselberg directly asked Eric Trump to delay paying off a loan related to Trump’s Seven Springs estate so it wouldn’t affect the former president’s cash balance.
“If we have to pay off the loan I would like to do it post June 30th as that is the date of your dad’s annual financial statement … to keep his cash balance as high as possible,” the April 2015 email said.
Oct 12, 2:38 PM EDT
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg returns to the stand
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has returned to the stand, nine months after he was sentenced to five months in prison for evading more than $1.7 million in taxes on unreported income in the form of company-provided perks.
One day before his sentencing in January, Weisselberg signed a severance agreement with his former employer saying that if he complied with all the conditions of the agreement, he would receive $2 million spread out over two years, according to court records.
One of those conditions, state attorney Louis Solomon highlighted in court, prevented Weisselberg from voluntarily cooperating with an investigation of his former company or boss.
“I didn’t give it a lot of thought, to be honest,” Weisselberg said when asked about the section of the agreement preventing him from cooperating with investigators.
“Is it just a coincidence that under this severance agreement, you are being paid $2 million, which is coincidentally the exact amount you were ordered to pay under your guilty plea?” Solomon asked.
“Coincidence,” Weisselberg replied.
Oct 12, 1:38 PM EDT
Bank’s loans to Trump were ‘good credit decision,’ says exec
Deutsche Bank’s $378 million in loans to the Trump Organization was a “good credit decision,” the bank’s former risk management executive told the court at the end of more than a day of testimony.
“I think we did a reasonably thorough analysis of the information,” former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified under cross-examination by the defense.
An internal Deutsche Bank group evaluated Trump’s financial information, personally visited Trump Organization offices to review bank and brokerage records, and conducted some appraisals of property explicitly used as collateral, according to Haigh.
Though the value that Deutsche Bank determined for the properties often differed by hundreds of millions of dollars compared to the Trump-provided value, the entities continued to have what internal bank documents described as a “long and satisfactory relationship.”
“Using a Deutsche Bank-adjusted value for the assets, the net worth still exceeded $2.5 billion,” Haigh said, referring to Trump’s net worth as it related to a loan covenant.
When Trump decided to run for president and won the election, Deutsche Bank was supportive of the business relationship, though management was careful to monitor their particularly high-profile client, according to internal bank documents presented at trial.
“Note that the relationship continues to be monitored at the highest levels of senior management within the firm and any issues arising from the Guarantor’s status as President of the United States are immediately addressed, taken to the appropriate Reputation Risk committee, and discussed with appropriate legal counsel,” a credit report said.
When asked directly if the decision to work with Trump was a “good credit decision” by defense attorney Clifford Robert, Haigh responded, “I generally agree with that.”
During redirect questioning, state attorney Kevin Wallace stopped short of directly asking Haigh if he would have still done business with Trump had he known about the inflated value of Trump’s assets. But he asked Haigh whether Trump’s financial information could have been incomplete.
“You have no way of knowing if there was information that wasn’t provided to you?” Wallace asked.
“That is correct,” Haigh said, marking the end of his questioning.
Oct 12, 10:19 AM EDT
New York AG not in attendance for 2nd day
As the trial’s eighth eighth day gets underway, New York Attorney General Letitia James is absent from court for a second day.
While James attended the first six days of the trial, she did not appear at the proceedings yesterday.
Roughly a dozen lawyers and staff from the New York attorney general’s office have been attending the trial each day.
Oct 12, 8:44 AM EDT
Defense to scrutinize Deutsche Bank’s due diligence
Trump attorney Jesus Suarez will continue his cross examination of former Deutsche Bank risk management executive Nicholas Haigh when Trump’s civil trial resumes this morning.
Deutsche Bank was the Trump Organization’s largest single lender between 2011 and 2022, loaning the former president upwards of $300 million through the bank’s private wealth management division.
Describing himself as an “ultimate decider” of the loans’ riskiness, Haigh testified Wednesday that his decision-making process relied on Trump’s financial statements — documents that the New York attorney general alleges were fraudulent.
“I assumed that the representations of the assets and liabilities were broadly accurate,” Haigh said yesterday.
Earlier witnesses have testified about how Trump’s financial documents were drafted, finalized, and sent to banks — but Haigh is the first witness to testify from the perspective of the banks, which the attorney general says were allegedly deceived by Trump’s inflated financial statements.
Suarez, during his first hour cross examining Haigh on Wednesday, said Deutsche Bank was a sophisticated company that profited from the loans.
Haigh also acknowledged that the bank failed to conduct its own independent appraisals of Trump’s top properties, and did not rigorously examine his financial information.
Oct 11, 5:54 PM EDT
Trump’s business drew little scrutiny from bank, defense says
Deutsche Bank was a serious company in business with Donald Trump to make money, defense attorney Jesus Suarez said during his cross examination of former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh.
At the height of its relationship with the Trump Organization, the company loaned Trump over $378 million and failed to commission independent appraisals of Trump’s properties, Haigh acknowledged. While the bank listed lower estimates for the value of Trump’s assets year after year, it continued to do business with Trump and his company.
“We … the bank hadn’t done all the due diligence one would do in the sense of the opinion of value you see in an appraisal,” Haigh said, at one point agreeing with the defense’s characterization that the bank’s internal value services group conducted “sanity checks” on the numbers.
The direct examination of Haigh by state attorney Kevin Wallace also left a central question about Deutsche Bank’s activity unanswered.
In a letter to the court and in previous arguments, lawyers for the attorney general suggested that Haigh might have turned away Trump’s business if he had known that Trump’s assets were inflated in value.
“As this Court noted during summary judgment arguments, Mr. Haigh testified during OAG’s investigation that he may not have authorized lending to the borrower if he had at that time been aware of the inflated asset values contained in Mr. Trump’s SFCs [statements of financial condition],” a lawyer for the attorney general wrote to the court in a letter last week.
Wallace never directly posed the hypothetical to Haigh during his direct examination, leaving the question unresolved.
Court subsequently adjourned for the day, with Suarez telling the court he plans to continue his cross examination of Haigh through Thursday afternoon.
Oct 11, 4:06 PM EDT
Bank wouldn’t extend Trump credit to buy Buffalo Bills, exec says
Former president Donald Trump and his company bid $1 billion in 2014 in an attempt to purchase the Buffalo Bills football team.
The only problem was that Trump needed a bank to help finance his bid.
Former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified that when Trump turned to his bank for help, bank executives declined, fearing it would increase their financial exposure to Trump.
“Deutsche Bank was not willing to increase its credit exposure to Donald Trump at that time,” Haigh said.
But the bank was still willing to help Trump by sending a letter to support his bid, according to Haigh — on the condition that Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney certify that the company was still in compliance with the covenants of the three outstanding loans the bank had given Trump.
McConney verified that Trump had over $300 million in liquid assets in 2014, and that it suffered no material decrease in the value of his illiquid assets, according to a document entered into evidence today.
With that verification, Deutsche Bank issued a letter that Trump had the “financial wherewithal” to fund his bid.
Trump’s effort to purchase the Bills was ultimately unsuccessful.
Following this line of questioning, state attorney Kevin Wallace concluded his direct examination of Haigh. But he never asked Haigh if he would have approved Trump’s loans had he known about the inflated assets alleged by the attorney general.
In a letter to the court and in previous arguments, lawyers for the attorney general had suggested that the hypothetical question would be a central element of Haigh’s testimony.
Oct 11, 1:58 PM EDT
Trump had to maintain $2.5B net worth for loan, banker says
When Donald Trump negotiated a $125 million loan from Deutsche Bank related to his Trump National Doral golf club, the former president agreed to maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion as a condition of the loan, former bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified.
The loan memorandum prepared by Deutsche Bank included a covenant that the “Guarantor shall maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion excluding any value related to the Guarantor’s brand value,” according to a document marked as evidence today.
The New York attorney general alleges that Trump’s actual net worth at the time of the loan agreement was only $1.5 billion, an amount that would have triggered a default.
Retired Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified that he was involved in the decision to set the $2.5 billion figure, which he believed would protect the bank from exposure if the property failed or the broader market declined.
“It was set in order to make sure the bank was fully protected under adverse market conditions,” Haigh testified.
To calculate Trump’s net worth, Deutsche Bank looked at what Haigh described as Trump’s four “trophy properties,” all in Manhattan: Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street, Trump Park Avenue, and Niketown — a ground lease for a property adjoining Trump Tower.
Since the properties themselves were not provided as collateral for the loan, Deutsche Bank did not commission independent appraisals for the properties, and instead used a modified version of Trump’s own numbers.
“The bank normally only commissions appraisals on assets taken as collateral,” Haigh said.
Deutsche Bank adjusted their assessment in 2012, when they learned of a separate appraisal of Trump Tower that offered a lower value of the property than what Trump had provided.
“The bank felt that it had an independent view on the value of the asset,” Haigh said of the appraisal that prompted his bank to lower their value for Trump Tower from $1.2 billion to $992 million.
Oct 11, 11:59 AM EDT
Bank relied on Trump’s financial statement to secure loan
Deutsche Bank relied on the strength of Donald Trump’s “financial profile” when deciding to loan the former president roughly $125 million related to the purchase of the Trump National Doral golf club in 2011, according to retired Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh.
Haigh testified that because Trump used the golf course and spa as collateral — relatively “unusual” assets that Deutsche Bank would struggle to sell in the event of a foreclosure — the bank leaned on the strength of Trump’s larger portfolio.
“[Trump] is guaranteeing he will repay our loan — all the money due on the loan,” Haigh said about the terms of the loan. “He is also guaranteeing if the result is losing money, he will pay the cost of that shortfall.”
Haigh said that he personally reviewed Trump’s statement of financial condition when determining whether to sign off on the loan.
“My conclusion was the client owned a lot of real estate, which was not surprising,” Haigh said about his findings after reading Trump’s financial statement.
Previous witnesses in the trial have offered insights into how Trump’s annual financial statement was drafted, finalized, and provided to banks to fulfill loan obligations. Haigh is the first witness to testify from the perspective of the banks, which considered the statements when deciding whether to do business with Trump.
Oct 11, 10:56 AM EDT
‘Nobody forgot to check off a box,’ judge says about lack of jury
Responding to lingering questions about the lack of a jury at the ongoing civil trial, Judge Engoron stated on the record that Trump would not have been entitled to a jury trial.
“We are having a non-jury trial because we are hearing a non-jury case,” Engoron said, dispelling claims that the trial lacks a jury because Trump’s lawyers simply forgot to check off a box or file a motion.
“It would have not helped to make a motion. Nobody forgot to check off a box,” Engoron said.
During her opening statement, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said the former president would have preferred a jury trial, and Trump himself has made multiple posts on his Truth Social platform about the alleged injustice stemming from the lack of a jury.
“The AG checked off non-jury, and there was no motion for a jury,” Engoron said about the process in Trump’s case — but he added that if a motion for a jury trial had been filed, he would have rejected it because the attorney general asked for “equitable” relief, which does not entitle participants to a jury trial.
“I would like to say thank you, your honor,” Habba said about the clarification.
Oct 11, 10:36 AM EDT
New York AG not attending trial today
New York Attorney General Letitia James is absent from the courtroom this morning.
James attended the first six days of the trial, which started last Monday.
Former President Trump and Trump Organization VP Eric Trump both attended the first three days of the trial.
Oct 11, 9:39 AM EDT
Bank exec told AG he was unaware of inflated valuations
While the Trump Organization’s relationship with Deutsche Bank goes back 30 years, the attorney general alleges in her complaint that in 2011, Trump began doing business with the private wealth managers at the bank, rather than bankers who specialized in commercial real estate.
“In essence, rather than obtain credit facilities through the wing of Deutsche Bank with an expertise in commercial real estate, Mr. Trump began to seek funds from a wing of Deutsche Bank focused on servicing ultrawealthy clients,” the attorney general’s complaint said. “Hence, Mr. Trump’s personal guaranty, and his representations regarding his finances that backed up that guaranty, featured prominently in Mr. Trump’s loan transactions through the [private wealth management] wing of Deutsche Bank.”
During the attorney general’s investigation, Deutsche Bank credit risk executive Nicholas Haigh told investigators that he “may not have authorized” Trump’s loans if he was aware of the inflated values in Trump’s financial statements, according to a letter the state submitted to the court.
Oct 11, 9:04 AM EDT
Deutsche Bank executive set to take stand
Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial is set to resume this morning with the testimony of Nicholas Haigh, a credit risk executive who worked at Deutsche Bank when it issued loans to the former president.
Deutsche Bank was the largest single lender to the Trump Organization between 2011 and 2022, according to the New York attorney general.
Owing approximately $340 million to the bank at one point, the Trump Organization used Deutsche Bank to secure favorable loans related to its purchase of the Old Post Office Hotel in Washington, D.C., the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Illinois, and Trump National Doral golf club in Florida, according to the AG’s complaint.
Oct 10, 5:23 PM EDT
Ex-CFO can’t say who OK’d statements after Trump became president
Ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg, who testified earlier Tuesday that Trump approved his financial statements before they were finalized during the years between 2011 and 2016, was unable to recall who approved financial statements after Trump was elected president in 2016.
While he recalled discussing some elements of the statements with Trump Organization VP Eric Trump, he declined to say that either Eric or VP Don Jr. had final say regarding the statements.
Court then adjourned for the day.
Court is set to resume Wednesday morning with the testimony of Deutsche Bank risk manager Nicholas Haigh, who is testifying early due to a scheduling conflict.
Weisselberg is scheduled to return to the witness stand later Wednesday.
Oct 10, 4:40 PM EDT
Ex-CFO OK’d financial documents used to prevent loan default
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg testified that he certified that Trump’s financial statements were “true, correct and complete” so the documents could be provided to lenders to prevent a breach of contract resulting in a loan default.
“Please see the attached report required per our loan documents, for the above referenced loan,” a Trump Organization employee would write to lenders like Wells Fargo, according to examples entered into evidence.
The employee would include a certification, signed by Weisselberg, attesting to the accuracy of Trump’s financial documents.
“Did you understand that if you failed to provide this, the Trump organization would be in breach of its obligations under the loan agreement?” state attorney Louis Solomon asked Weisselberg for each email.
“Yes,” Weisselberg replied.
Oct 10, 3:37 PM EDT
Weisselberg says Trump signed off on financial statements
Donald Trump would approve his financial statements before they were finalized between 2011 and 2016, ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg testified.
Weisselberg said that Trump often had feedback about the notes sections of the statements, which contained more detailed descriptions of Trump’s properties.
“‘Don’t use the word beautiful. Use the word magnificent,'” Weisselberg offered as an example of the kind of feedback Trump would provide.
Earlier Tuesday, Weisselberg testified that he did not meet with Trump or attorney Michael Cohen to review the statements. Returning to the topic after the lunch break, Weisselberg described Trump’s final review of the document as a regular occurrence before he became president.
“Did you ever send it to the Mazars [accountants] … as a final version before Mr. Trump signed off on it?” state attorney Louis Solomon asked.
“Not that I can remember, no,” Weisselberg said.
Oct 10, 2:18 PM EDT
Ex-CFO suggested 30% ‘brand premium’ for golf course valuations
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg explained the Trump Organization’s process for valuing its marquee properties as a complicated, months-long process during which the firm’s controller, Jeffrey McConney, would reach out to appraisers and brokers to better determine their value.
“This took months to prepare. It was not a simple task,” Weisselberg said, adding that he reviewed McConney’s final product at a “30,000-foot level.”
But Weisselberg acknowledged that he often intervened in the process to push McConney in a certain direction.
In one example, Weisselberg testified that he suggested McConney add a 30% brand premium for seven of Trump’s golf courses — adding tens of millions of dollars in value without disclosing the reasoning.
“Was the 30% premium you directed Mr. McConney to add to the fixed assets disclosed in the statement of financial condition?” Solomon asked.
“No,” Weisselberg said.
During a later portion of his direct examination, Weisselberg testified he sent Trump Organization employee Patrick Birney — who took over handling Trump’s financial statements from McConney — a newspaper clipping about a nearby Palm Beach property in order to support the valuation of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
“Patrick — hold for next year DJT f/s, Let’s see what it ends up selling for,” a handwritten note from Weisselberg on the clipping said.
Weisselberg acknowledged his hesitancy to use that property’s asking price to help value Mar-a-Lago.
“Anyone can ask anything for a dollar amount. Doesn’t mean it’s going to sell,” Weisselberg said.
Oct 10, 2:01 PM EDT
Ex-CFO acknowledges firm’s fundamental failures of responsibility
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg acknowledged under questioning that the Trump Organization failed to fulfill some of the basic promises detailed in letters between the firm and its external accountant, Mazars USA.
“Do you believe the Trump Organization fulfilled that fundamental responsibility?” state attorney Solomon asked Weisselberg regarding a 2017 letter from Mazars that outlined the Trump Organization’s responsibility to select the accounting principles used in financial statements.
“No,” Weisselberg responded.
Asked about a separate letter outlining the Trump Organization’s responsibility to comply with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, Weisselberg initially suggested that the Trump Organization fully relied on Mazars to comply with the accounting standards.
“We relied on Mazars to understand GAAP,” Weisselberg said.
“You were relying on Mazars to make a representation back to Mazars?” Solomon said, prompting Weisselberg to reverse his statement.
When questioned about the seemingly boilerplate accounting obligations to which the Trump Organization agreed, Weisselberg appeared to struggle to articulate who at the Trump Organization fulfilled the basic responsibilities as outlined.
Oct 10, 1:21 PM EDT
Weisselberg denies discussing financial statements with Trump
After initially evading the state’s question, ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg denied that he ever met with Trump to discuss his financial statements.
“Did you ever meet with Donald Trump or Michael Cohen where there was discussion of the statement of financial condition before it was finalized?” state attorney Louis Solomon asked.
Weisselberg initially responded that he did not recall such a meeting happening, before answering more definitively.
“No. I don’t believe it happened,” Weisselberg said.
Judge Engoron, appearing skeptical of the answer, asked Weisselberg to confirm.
“Could it have happened, and you just don’t remember?” Engoron asked.
“I am saying it did not happen,” Weisselberg responded.
The attorney general’s opening statement for the case included a portion of the deposition of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who claimed that Trump met with him and Weisselberg to direct them to increase his net worth, in order “to be higher on the Forbes list” of billionaires.
“Allen and I were tasked with taking the assets, increasing each of those asset classes in order to accommodate that eight-billion-dollar number [Trump requested],” Cohen said in the deposition.
Oct 10, 11:55 AM EDT
Weisselberg concedes Trump’s triplex is smaller than valuation
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg testified that Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower is 10,996 square feet — which is a third the size that Trump claimed on financial documents.
In October 1994, Trump signed a document that certified his penthouse triplex is 10,996 square feet, but his statements of financial condition for several years beginning in 2012 listed the apartment as 30,000 square feet.
An attorney with the New York attorney general’s office showed the page with Trump’s signature to Weisselberg, who appeared to struggle to explain the discrepancy.
“It was always in my mind a de minimis asset on the statement of financial condition,” Weisselberg said. “I never even thought about the apartment.”
Louis Solomon of the attorney general’s office confronted Weisselberg with emails from Forbes magazine seeking clarity about the apartment’s size, as well as a letter signed by Weisselberg certifying the 30,000 square foot figure to the Trump Organization’s then-accountant, Mazars USA.
Weisselberg offered a lengthy take on the discrepancy, prompting Judge Arthur Engoron to intercede.
“Your role is to answer the questions, not to give speeches. Please just answer the questions,” Engoron said.
“Forbes was right, the triplex was actually only 10,996, right?” Solomon asked.
“Right,” Weisselberg finally conceded.
“I’ve been through quite a bit the last two years,” Weisselberg said at one point during the morning’s questioning. The former CFO moved to Florida following three months in jail after he pleaded guilty last year to criminal fraud charges and subsequently testified against the Trump Organization.
Oct 10, 9:47 AM EDT
Weisselberg to be questioned about valuations
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg is expected to face questions this morning about his work valuing properties like Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower and Trump’s 40 Wall Street building, as well as the Trump Organization’s efforts to secure loans from banks and Weisselberg’s direct conversations with the former president.
Weisselberg is the second named defendant to testify in the ongoing civil trial.
Trump Organization controller and co-defendant Jeffrey McConney, who concluded his testimony on Friday, was deemed a hostile witness by Judge Arthur Engoron, giving the state more latitude in their questions.
Oct 10, 9:08 AM EDT
Ex-CFO Weisselberg last year pled guilty to tax fraud
Ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg’s expected testimony this morning comes six months after he was released from New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty last year to 15 felony charges related to a long-running scheme to avoid $1.7 million in taxes while working for the Trump Organization.
As a condition of his plea deal, Weisselberg testified last year in the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal trial of the Trump Organization itself.
“Are you embarrassed about what you did?” Trump Organization attorney Alan Futerfas asked Weisselberg during the criminal trial last November.
“More than you can imagine,” replied Weisselberg, who testified that Trump himself was unaware of his tax evasion scheme.
The Trump Organization was convicted and later paid a $1.6 million fine imposed by the judge overseeing the case.
Oct 10, 8:22 AM EDT
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg expected to take stand
Former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg is expected to testify when former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud resumes this morning.
A named defendant in the case alongside Trump and his adult sons, Weisselberg allegedly supervised and approved the inflated valuations in Trump’s financial statements at the center of the state’s case, according to prosecutors.
He’s also alleged to have personally met with the former president each year between 2011 and 2016 to review and get approval for the fraudulent financial statements.
“Mr. Trump made known through Mr. Weisselberg that he wanted his net worth on the Statements to increase — a desire Mr. Weisselberg and others carried out year after year in their fraudulent preparation of the Statements,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote in her initial complaint.
The booking photo of Joseph M. Czuba — Will County Sheriff’s Office
(PLAINFIELD, Ill.) — An Illinois man was charged with stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy to death and seriously injuring his mother in what police said was a hate crime linked to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.
Joseph Czuba allegedly stabbed the boy 26 times with a “military-style knife” and his mother more than a dozen in the incident, which President Joe Biden said “shocked and sickened” him.
“The child’s Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek—a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace. This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are,” his statement continued.
The Justice Department said it had opened a federal hate crimes investigation into the alleged murder. Local authorities said in a news release that the suspect, who is scheduled to be in court on Monday, stabbed the boy on Saturday in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield, Illinois.
“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the Will County Sheriff’s Office said. No further details were made available regarding what the sheriff’s department alleged was the suspect’s motive.
On Saturday around 11:38 a.m. local time, deputies were sent to a residence near S. Lincoln Highway and responded to a call about a stabbing between a landlord and tenant.
The victims were found in the bedroom of a residence. Both victims had multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso and upper extremities, authorities said.
The 32-year-old female was taken to the hospital in serious condition. She suffered from over a dozen stab wounds to her body and is expected to survive the attack, officials said.
The child, 6, was taken to the hospital in critical condition and succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead, the sheriff’s department said.
The suspect was taken to a hospital after authorities found him with a laceration on his forehead when they arrived on scene.
Czuba was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime nd aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The suspect did not give a statement, though authorities claim they were able to determine the victims in the attack “were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”
ABC News was unable to locate a legal representative for the suspect.
Biden in his statement calling the incident a “horrific act of hate.”
“As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred. I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate. We must be unequivocal. There is no place in America for hate against anyone,” his statement read.
ABC News’ Alexander Malin contributed to this story.
(WASHINGTON) — The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., is set to hear oral arguments Monday on a limited gag order proposed by the government.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team is urging U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to impose restrictions on Trump in order to protect potential jurors, citing the former president’s conduct on social media regarding people involved in his various legal battles.
In a court filing last week, Smith’s team specifically cited Trump’s post about a law clerk in his ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial in New York, which prompted the judge in that case to issue an oral order restricting all parties from speaking publicly about his court staff.
“There are other good reasons in this case for the Court to impose these restrictions and enforce this District’s standard prohibition against publicizing jurors’ identities,” Smith’s team said in its filing. “Chief among them is the defendant’s continued use of social media as a weapon of intimidation in court proceedings.”
Trump’s attorneys have vehemently opposed the gag order request in court filings, calling it an affront to Trump’s First Amendment rights and accusing Smith’s team of having political motivations due to Trump’s strong standing in the 2024 presidential race.
Trump in August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged — all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
The special counsel has accused Trump of engaging in a sweeping campaign of “disinformation” and harassment intended to intimidate witnesses, prosecutors and others involved in the prosecution he is facing.
“Like his previous public disinformation campaign regarding the 2020 presidential election, the defendant’s recent extrajudicial statements are intended to undermine public confidence in an institution — the judicial system — and to undermine confidence in and intimidate individuals — the Court, the jury pool, witnesses, and prosecutors,” the special counsel said in a filing last month.
The trial is currently scheduled to begin in March.
(MONTANA) — A Montana man who survived a horrific bear attack and endured arduous surgeries to repair his jaw shared that he wanted others to keep on fighting as he prepares to head home after five weeks in the hospital.
“Even if there seems to be no hope, keep on fighting,” Rudy Noorlander said in a message read by one of his daughters at a press briefing Friday.
Noorlander, 61, a Navy veteran, was helping a group of hunters track a deer in Big Sky, Montana, on Sept. 8 when a grizzly bear attacked him and bit his lower jaw off, his family said.
Following emergency surgery in Bozeman, he was flown to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where over the past five weeks he has undergone multiple surgeries, including a complete jaw reconstruction.
“The people who are there with him said, it’s really bad,” one of his daughters, Katelynn Davis, told reporters during the press briefing at the hospital on Friday. “We knew he’d fight no matter what, but we just didn’t know how much of a fight it was going to be.”
Noorlander lost a large portion of his lower jaw and his larynx was fractured in the bear attack — making him largely unable to speak, according to Dr. Hilary McCrary, a surgeon at the University of Utah Health who treated him.
Though following surgeries to stabilize his neck and reconstruct his jaw, he is expected to fully recover, she said.
“He was very adamant that he was gonna fight this thing and get through it,” McCrary said during the briefing. “For someone to be so enthusiastic about his prognosis and outcome that early is very heartwarming as a physician.”
Noorlander will need to come back to Salt Lake City for additional surgeries, though the bulk are done, McCrary said. His family expects him to be able to go home to Montana on Monday.
It is painful for Noorlander to attempt to talk now and he will need to work with a speech therapist. He will also need to work on eating without risking infection, McCrary said. In a message read by Davis, Noorlander said he looks forward to enjoying his first root beer float.
Noorlander, an avid outdoorsman who owns Alpine Adventures in Big Sky, has had encounters with bears in the past. He was prepared with bear mace and a gun when he went out to help the hunters track a deer on a trail in Big Sky but he “didn’t have time” and his gun misfired before the bear attacked, Davis said.
One of the reasons he likely survived was being with a group, Davis said. The other hunters were able to scare the bear away and call 911, his family said.
Noorlander wants to tell his story about the bear attack itself when he can talk, as well as write a book about the experience. He also wants Cole Hauser of “Yellowstone” to play him in a movie, his daughter said.
Noorlander, who communicated using a whiteboard during the press briefing, joked that he would “win round #2” with the bear.
When asked why he wanted to share his story, he wrote: “Only by the hands of God am I here. I’ve had a lot of inspirations and I felt the need to share my story with others. And believe it or not, I believe that this attack was an answer to my prayers and that potentially it could help somebody else going through something similar.”
(WASHINGTON) — Thirty-three members of Congress are asking President Joe Biden to grant clemency to a Native American leader convicted of shooting and killing two FBI agents.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva and 32 other members of Congress sent Biden a letter asking him to grant executive clemency to incarcerated Native American leader Leonard Peltier, citing what they said were the “prosecutorial misconduct” and “constitutional violations” that took place during Peltier’s trial.
“Nearly half a century after he was wrongfully imprisoned, Mr. Peltier’s continued incarceration is a grim reminder of this country’s long history of stealing life and legacy from Indigenous communities,” Grijalva wrote in a statement to ABC News. “I’m not alone in calling for his clemency — global civil rights leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have all supported the call as well. And now we have congressional leaders across the political spectrum and across both chambers asking for the righting of this wrong.”
ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment.
The letter cites Judge Gerald Heany who presided over Peltier’s 1986 appeal and called for his release in 1991 and 2000; former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, whose office handled Peltier’s prosecution and has called for a commutation of Peltier’s sentence; and retired FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley, who called the opposition to Peltier’s clemency an “FBI family vendetta.” All three wrote letters seeking clemency for Peltier, who was denied clemency by then-Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
“His conviction and continued incarceration is a testament to a time and system of justice that no longer has a place in our society,” Reynolds said.
But some groups, like the Fraternal Order of Police, said Obama “made the right call” in denying clemency for Peltier.
“There is no doubt that Peltier executed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Ronald A. Williams and Jack R. Coler in 1975, and he was found guilty of this heinous crime. There should be no doubt that anyone who murders a law enforcement officer in cold blood should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, which means they should serve the full term of imprisonment for which they were sentenced. This man is one of the most notorious cop killers in our history — he should not ever be considered for clemency,” the organization wrote in a letter to Biden published Thursday.
When a group of senators released a letter similar to Grijalva’s in 2022, the FBI said it “remains resolute against the commutation of Leonard Peltier’s sentence for murdering FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams at South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. We must never forget or put aside that Peltier intentionally and mercilessly murdered these two young men and has never expressed remorse for his ruthless actions.”
Nick Tilsen, CEO and founder of the NDN Collective, which helped organize a rally calling for clemency for Peltier, said the FBI “became fearful” following the rise of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
“I think that the reality of those times… from 1960-1978 was the rise of the American Indian Movement. During those years, you see social upheaval across this nation… the American Indian Movement played a fundamental role in holding a mirror to this country and having it question itself, question its democracy, question the things it says it’s about,” Tilsen said. “They re-instilled the pride of Indigenous people back into us and so we started reclaiming our power. And I think that [the FBI] became fearful of that.”
Peltier’s lawyer and former U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Sharp alleged that officials engaged in misconduct in Peltier’s case.
“When I started to look through [Peltier’s case], I did that as a former federal judge who had tried criminal cases and as someone who had taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Sharp told ABC News. “The courts have recognized [these injustices]. They threatened and intimidated witnesses to get people to say things. … They hid a ballistics test, so they knew that Leonard’s weapon did not kill those agents. They knew that.”
In June 1975, special agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler were on the Pine Ridge Reservation with a federal warrant for the arrest of a man named Jimmy Eagle. They got into a shootout with Peltier and a few others present on the reservation at the time. Peltier fled from the scene and hid out on an Indian Reservation in Hinton Alberta, Canada, until he was apprehended by Canadian authorities. He was extradited based on the testimony of Myrtle Poor Bear, a Native American woman whom the prosecuting assistant U.S. attorney later determined was incompetent to testify.
Peltier was convicted in 1977 on two counts of first degree murder of a federal employee and sentenced to life imprisonment. Two other men involved in the Pine Ridge Reservation shooting were acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.
ABC News’ Brittany Gaddy contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The Baltimore Police Department announced on Friday they’ve made in arrest in this month’s shooting at Morgan State University.
Police arrested a 17-year-old on attempted murder charges in Washington D.C. and issued an arrest warrant for 18-year-old Jovan Williams for attempted murder.
Williams is considered armed and dangerous, police say. Authorities were able to identify Williams and the other juvenile through surveillance footage.
The shooting broke out on the campus of Morgan State on Oct. 3 during a homecoming event. Five people were injured and four were students. Police believe a dispute amongst a group is what prompted the shooting.
“The Morgan Community can take solace today in knowing that an arrest has been made and we are one step closer to bringing all of the alleged culprits responsible for the incident that occurred on our campus to justice,” said David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University.
The ATF said the arrest and investigation was a collaboration with federal law enforcement and state and local law enforcement.
“ATF, Baltimore Police Department and our law enforcement partners have worked relentlessly every day since the shooting at Morgan State University to identify the persons responsible for this brazen crime,” said ATF Baltimore Special Agent in Charge Toni M. Crosby.
There is a $9,000 reward for any information leading to Williams’ arrest.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.
Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr., and Trump Organization executives are accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth while lowering his tax burden. The former president has denied all wrongdoing and his attorneys have argued that Trump’s alleged inflated valuations were a product of his business skill.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 13, 8:26 AM EDT
Assistant VP to continue testimony
Trump Organization assistant VP Patrick Birney will continue his testimony this morning on Day Nine of the trial.
Roughly 40 years younger than ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg — his former boss and the previous witness in the trial — Birney testified yesterday that he largely relied on Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney to put together Trump’s annual financial statements.
“I was not the final decision maker,” Birney said.
State attorney Kevin Wallace highlighted Birney’s statements during his opening statement as evidence of an alleged conspiracy within the Trump Organization to inflate Trump’s net worth.
“He likes to see it go up,” Birney said, according to Wallace.
If Birney completes his testimony today, Trump Hotels chief accounting officer Mark Hawthorn is scheduled to testify next.
Patrick Birney had been working for the Trump Organization for more than two years when a magazine article prompted him to change Trump’s financial statement, the assistant VP testified.
“There was an article written that stated that Mr. Trump’s triplex was actually 10,900 or so square feet,” Birney said, referring to a 2017 Forbes magazine article that alleged Trump had been lying about the size of his residence. (Judge Engoron decided in his partial summary judgment last month that the size was misrepresented.)
Birney testified that Trump Organization employees, including former CFO Allen Weisselberg, “verified” the size and adjusted the next year’s statement of financial condition. As a result, the penthouse was valued at $116 million in 2017 — a steep drop from the 2016 valuation of $327 million.
Birney testified that he looked up comparable properties to come up with the value of the apartment going forward.
“I Google searched recent penthouse sales in Manhattan,” Birney said, eventually landing on an web article about a penthouse purchased by billionaire Ken Griffin that set the record for most expensive home ever sold in the United States.
A price-per-square-foot for Trump’s penthouse was determined based on that record-breaking sale, Birney said.
When Birney was tasked with finding comparable properties to value Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, he similarly searched for nearby Palm Beach homes. However, Trump signed a deed in 2002 that limited Mar-a-Lago’s purpose to a social club, the New York attorney general alleges, making the price of nearby residences irrelevant.
Asked if he was ever told about the deed by anyone at the Trump Organization, Birney replied, “I don’t believe I was.” Instead, he said he first learned about it during an “interview with the attorney general’s office.”
Court then adjourned for the day, with Birney’s testimony scheduled to resume tomorrow morning.
Oct 12, 3:58 PM EDT
Trump Organization assistant VP says CFO had final say
Trump Organization assistant vice president Patrick Birney testified that CFO Allen Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney had the final say on Trump’s financial documents when he worked under them.
“I was not the final decision maker,” Birney said.
Birney joined the Trump Organization in 2015, a few years after he graduated from the University of Michigan. He began helping with Trump’s statement of financial condition in 2016 and eventually took over preparing the vital financial document, though he acknowledged in court that he initially lacked some basic knowledge about accounting and finance.
Asked if he ever had valued a property using a capitalization rate, he replied, “I don’t think so.”
Birney said he would often turn to McConney if he needed specific documents, and that he reviewed drafts of the statement with Weisselberg.
“He would review drafts with me that I would provide him,” Birney said. He later added, “Allen Weisselberg had the authority to approve everything.”
Oct 12, 3:45 PM EDT
Trump Organization assistant VP takes the stand
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has completed his direct examination, although he might be called back to testify by either the attorney general or the defense, Judge Arthur Engoron said.
“I am lifting the prohibition on discussing the case with counsel or anyone else,” Engoron said about Weisselberg.
Trump Organization assistant vice president Patrick Birney, who took over managing Trump’s statement of financial condition after controller Jeffrey McConney, took the stand following Weisselberg.
Oct 12, 3:06 PM EDT
Ex-Trump CFO testifies about family members’ roles
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg, under questioning from state attorney Louis Solomon, addressed the degree to which Donald Trump’s three adult children — Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka — were involved in the day-to-day running of the Trump Organization during the period from 2011-2022.
“They wanted to get up to speed on how the business was running,” Weisselberg said, noting that Trump’s run for president accelerated their engagement in the company.
Emails entered into evidence from around that time suggested that the three Trump children requested financial information about the company’s operations.
During one email exchange, Weisselberg directly asked Eric Trump to delay paying off a loan related to Trump’s Seven Springs estate so it wouldn’t affect the former president’s cash balance.
“If we have to pay off the loan I would like to do it post June 30th as that is the date of your dad’s annual financial statement … to keep his cash balance as high as possible,” the April 2015 email said.
Oct 12, 2:38 PM EDT
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg returns to the stand
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has returned to the stand, nine months after he was sentenced to five months in prison for evading more than $1.7 million in taxes on unreported income in the form of company-provided perks.
One day before his sentencing in January, Weisselberg signed a severance agreement with his former employer saying that if he complied with all the conditions of the agreement, he would receive $2 million spread out over two years, according to court records.
One of those conditions, state attorney Louis Solomon highlighted in court, prevented Weisselberg from voluntarily cooperating with an investigation of his former company or boss.
“I didn’t give it a lot of thought, to be honest,” Weisselberg said when asked about the section of the agreement preventing him from cooperating with investigators.
“Is it just a coincidence that under this severance agreement, you are being paid $2 million, which is coincidentally the exact amount you were ordered to pay under your guilty plea?” Solomon asked.
“Coincidence,” Weisselberg replied.
Oct 12, 1:38 PM EDT
Bank’s loans to Trump were ‘good credit decision,’ says exec
Deutsche Bank’s $378 million in loans to the Trump Organization was a “good credit decision,” the bank’s former risk management executive told the court at the end of more than a day of testimony.
“I think we did a reasonably thorough analysis of the information,” former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified under cross-examination by the defense.
An internal Deutsche Bank group evaluated Trump’s financial information, personally visited Trump Organization offices to review bank and brokerage records, and conducted some appraisals of property explicitly used as collateral, according to Haigh.
Though the value that Deutsche Bank determined for the properties often differed by hundreds of millions of dollars compared to the Trump-provided value, the entities continued to have what internal bank documents described as a “long and satisfactory relationship.”
“Using a Deutsche Bank-adjusted value for the assets, the net worth still exceeded $2.5 billion,” Haigh said, referring to Trump’s net worth as it related to a loan covenant.
When Trump decided to run for president and won the election, Deutsche Bank was supportive of the business relationship, though management was careful to monitor their particularly high-profile client, according to internal bank documents presented at trial.
“Note that the relationship continues to be monitored at the highest levels of senior management within the firm and any issues arising from the Guarantor’s status as President of the United States are immediately addressed, taken to the appropriate Reputation Risk committee, and discussed with appropriate legal counsel,” a credit report said.
When asked directly if the decision to work with Trump was a “good credit decision” by defense attorney Clifford Robert, Haigh responded, “I generally agree with that.”
During redirect questioning, state attorney Kevin Wallace stopped short of directly asking Haigh if he would have still done business with Trump had he known about the inflated value of Trump’s assets. But he asked Haigh whether Trump’s financial information could have been incomplete.
“You have no way of knowing if there was information that wasn’t provided to you?” Wallace asked.
“That is correct,” Haigh said, marking the end of his questioning.
Oct 12, 10:19 AM EDT
New York AG not in attendance for 2nd day
As the trial’s eighth eighth day gets underway, New York Attorney General Letitia James is absent from court for a second day.
While James attended the first six days of the trial, she did not appear at the proceedings yesterday.
Roughly a dozen lawyers and staff from the New York attorney general’s office have been attending the trial each day.
Oct 12, 8:44 AM EDT
Defense to scrutinize Deutsche Bank’s due diligence
Trump attorney Jesus Suarez will continue his cross examination of former Deutsche Bank risk management executive Nicholas Haigh when Trump’s civil trial resumes this morning.
Deutsche Bank was the Trump Organization’s largest single lender between 2011 and 2022, loaning the former president upwards of $300 million through the bank’s private wealth management division.
Describing himself as an “ultimate decider” of the loans’ riskiness, Haigh testified Wednesday that his decision-making process relied on Trump’s financial statements — documents that the New York attorney general alleges were fraudulent.
“I assumed that the representations of the assets and liabilities were broadly accurate,” Haigh said yesterday.
Earlier witnesses have testified about how Trump’s financial documents were drafted, finalized, and sent to banks — but Haigh is the first witness to testify from the perspective of the banks, which the attorney general says were allegedly deceived by Trump’s inflated financial statements.
Suarez, during his first hour cross examining Haigh on Wednesday, said Deutsche Bank was a sophisticated company that profited from the loans.
Haigh also acknowledged that the bank failed to conduct its own independent appraisals of Trump’s top properties, and did not rigorously examine his financial information.
Oct 11, 5:54 PM EDT
Trump’s business drew little scrutiny from bank, defense says
Deutsche Bank was a serious company in business with Donald Trump to make money, defense attorney Jesus Suarez said during his cross examination of former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh.
At the height of its relationship with the Trump Organization, the company loaned Trump over $378 million and failed to commission independent appraisals of Trump’s properties, Haigh acknowledged. While the bank listed lower estimates for the value of Trump’s assets year after year, it continued to do business with Trump and his company.
“We … the bank hadn’t done all the due diligence one would do in the sense of the opinion of value you see in an appraisal,” Haigh said, at one point agreeing with the defense’s characterization that the bank’s internal value services group conducted “sanity checks” on the numbers.
The direct examination of Haigh by state attorney Kevin Wallace also left a central question about Deutsche Bank’s activity unanswered.
In a letter to the court and in previous arguments, lawyers for the attorney general suggested that Haigh might have turned away Trump’s business if he had known that Trump’s assets were inflated in value.
“As this Court noted during summary judgment arguments, Mr. Haigh testified during OAG’s investigation that he may not have authorized lending to the borrower if he had at that time been aware of the inflated asset values contained in Mr. Trump’s SFCs [statements of financial condition],” a lawyer for the attorney general wrote to the court in a letter last week.
Wallace never directly posed the hypothetical to Haigh during his direct examination, leaving the question unresolved.
Court subsequently adjourned for the day, with Suarez telling the court he plans to continue his cross examination of Haigh through Thursday afternoon.
Oct 11, 4:06 PM EDT
Bank wouldn’t extend Trump credit to buy Buffalo Bills, exec says
Former president Donald Trump and his company bid $1 billion in 2014 in an attempt to purchase the Buffalo Bills football team.
The only problem was that Trump needed a bank to help finance his bid.
Former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified that when Trump turned to his bank for help, bank executives declined, fearing it would increase their financial exposure to Trump.
“Deutsche Bank was not willing to increase its credit exposure to Donald Trump at that time,” Haigh said.
But the bank was still willing to help Trump by sending a letter to support his bid, according to Haigh — on the condition that Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney certify that the company was still in compliance with the covenants of the three outstanding loans the bank had given Trump.
McConney verified that Trump had over $300 million in liquid assets in 2014, and that it suffered no material decrease in the value of his illiquid assets, according to a document entered into evidence today.
With that verification, Deutsche Bank issued a letter that Trump had the “financial wherewithal” to fund his bid.
Trump’s effort to purchase the Bills was ultimately unsuccessful.
Following this line of questioning, state attorney Kevin Wallace concluded his direct examination of Haigh. But he never asked Haigh if he would have approved Trump’s loans had he known about the inflated assets alleged by the attorney general.
In a letter to the court and in previous arguments, lawyers for the attorney general had suggested that the hypothetical question would be a central element of Haigh’s testimony.
Oct 11, 1:58 PM EDT
Trump had to maintain $2.5B net worth for loan, banker says
When Donald Trump negotiated a $125 million loan from Deutsche Bank related to his Trump National Doral golf club, the former president agreed to maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion as a condition of the loan, former bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified.
The loan memorandum prepared by Deutsche Bank included a covenant that the “Guarantor shall maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion excluding any value related to the Guarantor’s brand value,” according to a document marked as evidence today.
The New York attorney general alleges that Trump’s actual net worth at the time of the loan agreement was only $1.5 billion, an amount that would have triggered a default.
Retired Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh testified that he was involved in the decision to set the $2.5 billion figure, which he believed would protect the bank from exposure if the property failed or the broader market declined.
“It was set in order to make sure the bank was fully protected under adverse market conditions,” Haigh testified.
To calculate Trump’s net worth, Deutsche Bank looked at what Haigh described as Trump’s four “trophy properties,” all in Manhattan: Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street, Trump Park Avenue, and Niketown — a ground lease for a property adjoining Trump Tower.
Since the properties themselves were not provided as collateral for the loan, Deutsche Bank did not commission independent appraisals for the properties, and instead used a modified version of Trump’s own numbers.
“The bank normally only commissions appraisals on assets taken as collateral,” Haigh said.
Deutsche Bank adjusted their assessment in 2012, when they learned of a separate appraisal of Trump Tower that offered a lower value of the property than what Trump had provided.
“The bank felt that it had an independent view on the value of the asset,” Haigh said of the appraisal that prompted his bank to lower their value for Trump Tower from $1.2 billion to $992 million.
Oct 11, 11:59 AM EDT
Bank relied on Trump’s financial statement to secure loan
Deutsche Bank relied on the strength of Donald Trump’s “financial profile” when deciding to loan the former president roughly $125 million related to the purchase of the Trump National Doral golf club in 2011, according to retired Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh.
Haigh testified that because Trump used the golf course and spa as collateral — relatively “unusual” assets that Deutsche Bank would struggle to sell in the event of a foreclosure — the bank leaned on the strength of Trump’s larger portfolio.
“[Trump] is guaranteeing he will repay our loan — all the money due on the loan,” Haigh said about the terms of the loan. “He is also guaranteeing if the result is losing money, he will pay the cost of that shortfall.”
Haigh said that he personally reviewed Trump’s statement of financial condition when determining whether to sign off on the loan.
“My conclusion was the client owned a lot of real estate, which was not surprising,” Haigh said about his findings after reading Trump’s financial statement.
Previous witnesses in the trial have offered insights into how Trump’s annual financial statement was drafted, finalized, and provided to banks to fulfill loan obligations. Haigh is the first witness to testify from the perspective of the banks, which considered the statements when deciding whether to do business with Trump.
Oct 11, 10:56 AM EDT
‘Nobody forgot to check off a box,’ judge says about lack of jury
Responding to lingering questions about the lack of a jury at the ongoing civil trial, Judge Engoron stated on the record that Trump would not have been entitled to a jury trial.
“We are having a non-jury trial because we are hearing a non-jury case,” Engoron said, dispelling claims that the trial lacks a jury because Trump’s lawyers simply forgot to check off a box or file a motion.
“It would have not helped to make a motion. Nobody forgot to check off a box,” Engoron said.
During her opening statement, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said the former president would have preferred a jury trial, and Trump himself has made multiple posts on his Truth Social platform about the alleged injustice stemming from the lack of a jury.
“The AG checked off non-jury, and there was no motion for a jury,” Engoron said about the process in Trump’s case — but he added that if a motion for a jury trial had been filed, he would have rejected it because the attorney general asked for “equitable” relief, which does not entitle participants to a jury trial.
“I would like to say thank you, your honor,” Habba said about the clarification.
Oct 11, 10:36 AM EDT
New York AG not attending trial today
New York Attorney General Letitia James is absent from the courtroom this morning.
James attended the first six days of the trial, which started last Monday.
Former President Trump and Trump Organization VP Eric Trump both attended the first three days of the trial.
Oct 11, 9:39 AM EDT
Bank exec told AG he was unaware of inflated valuations
While the Trump Organization’s relationship with Deutsche Bank goes back 30 years, the attorney general alleges in her complaint that in 2011, Trump began doing business with the private wealth managers at the bank, rather than bankers who specialized in commercial real estate.
“In essence, rather than obtain credit facilities through the wing of Deutsche Bank with an expertise in commercial real estate, Mr. Trump began to seek funds from a wing of Deutsche Bank focused on servicing ultrawealthy clients,” the attorney general’s complaint said. “Hence, Mr. Trump’s personal guaranty, and his representations regarding his finances that backed up that guaranty, featured prominently in Mr. Trump’s loan transactions through the [private wealth management] wing of Deutsche Bank.”
During the attorney general’s investigation, Deutsche Bank credit risk executive Nicholas Haigh told investigators that he “may not have authorized” Trump’s loans if he was aware of the inflated values in Trump’s financial statements, according to a letter the state submitted to the court.
Oct 11, 9:04 AM EDT
Deutsche Bank executive set to take stand
Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial is set to resume this morning with the testimony of Nicholas Haigh, a credit risk executive who worked at Deutsche Bank when it issued loans to the former president.
Deutsche Bank was the largest single lender to the Trump Organization between 2011 and 2022, according to the New York attorney general.
Owing approximately $340 million to the bank at one point, the Trump Organization used Deutsche Bank to secure favorable loans related to its purchase of the Old Post Office Hotel in Washington, D.C., the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Illinois, and Trump National Doral golf club in Florida, according to the AG’s complaint.
Oct 10, 5:23 PM EDT
Ex-CFO can’t say who OK’d statements after Trump became president
Ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg, who testified earlier Tuesday that Trump approved his financial statements before they were finalized during the years between 2011 and 2016, was unable to recall who approved financial statements after Trump was elected president in 2016.
While he recalled discussing some elements of the statements with Trump Organization VP Eric Trump, he declined to say that either Eric or VP Don Jr. had final say regarding the statements.
Court then adjourned for the day.
Court is set to resume Wednesday morning with the testimony of Deutsche Bank risk manager Nicholas Haigh, who is testifying early due to a scheduling conflict.
Weisselberg is scheduled to return to the witness stand later Wednesday.
Oct 10, 4:40 PM EDT
Ex-CFO OK’d financial documents used to prevent loan default
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg testified that he certified that Trump’s financial statements were “true, correct and complete” so the documents could be provided to lenders to prevent a breach of contract resulting in a loan default.
“Please see the attached report required per our loan documents, for the above referenced loan,” a Trump Organization employee would write to lenders like Wells Fargo, according to examples entered into evidence.
The employee would include a certification, signed by Weisselberg, attesting to the accuracy of Trump’s financial documents.
“Did you understand that if you failed to provide this, the Trump organization would be in breach of its obligations under the loan agreement?” state attorney Louis Solomon asked Weisselberg for each email.
“Yes,” Weisselberg replied.
Oct 10, 3:37 PM EDT
Weisselberg says Trump signed off on financial statements
Donald Trump would approve his financial statements before they were finalized between 2011 and 2016, ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg testified.
Weisselberg said that Trump often had feedback about the notes sections of the statements, which contained more detailed descriptions of Trump’s properties.
“‘Don’t use the word beautiful. Use the word magnificent,'” Weisselberg offered as an example of the kind of feedback Trump would provide.
Earlier Tuesday, Weisselberg testified that he did not meet with Trump or attorney Michael Cohen to review the statements. Returning to the topic after the lunch break, Weisselberg described Trump’s final review of the document as a regular occurrence before he became president.
“Did you ever send it to the Mazars [accountants] … as a final version before Mr. Trump signed off on it?” state attorney Louis Solomon asked.
“Not that I can remember, no,” Weisselberg said.
Oct 10, 2:18 PM EDT
Ex-CFO suggested 30% ‘brand premium’ for golf course valuations
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg explained the Trump Organization’s process for valuing its marquee properties as a complicated, months-long process during which the firm’s controller, Jeffrey McConney, would reach out to appraisers and brokers to better determine their value.
“This took months to prepare. It was not a simple task,” Weisselberg said, adding that he reviewed McConney’s final product at a “30,000-foot level.”
But Weisselberg acknowledged that he often intervened in the process to push McConney in a certain direction.
In one example, Weisselberg testified that he suggested McConney add a 30% brand premium for seven of Trump’s golf courses — adding tens of millions of dollars in value without disclosing the reasoning.
“Was the 30% premium you directed Mr. McConney to add to the fixed assets disclosed in the statement of financial condition?” Solomon asked.
“No,” Weisselberg said.
During a later portion of his direct examination, Weisselberg testified he sent Trump Organization employee Patrick Birney — who took over handling Trump’s financial statements from McConney — a newspaper clipping about a nearby Palm Beach property in order to support the valuation of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
“Patrick — hold for next year DJT f/s, Let’s see what it ends up selling for,” a handwritten note from Weisselberg on the clipping said.
Weisselberg acknowledged his hesitancy to use that property’s asking price to help value Mar-a-Lago.
“Anyone can ask anything for a dollar amount. Doesn’t mean it’s going to sell,” Weisselberg said.
Oct 10, 2:01 PM EDT
Ex-CFO acknowledges firm’s fundamental failures of responsibility
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg acknowledged under questioning that the Trump Organization failed to fulfill some of the basic promises detailed in letters between the firm and its external accountant, Mazars USA.
“Do you believe the Trump Organization fulfilled that fundamental responsibility?” state attorney Solomon asked Weisselberg regarding a 2017 letter from Mazars that outlined the Trump Organization’s responsibility to select the accounting principles used in financial statements.
“No,” Weisselberg responded.
Asked about a separate letter outlining the Trump Organization’s responsibility to comply with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, Weisselberg initially suggested that the Trump Organization fully relied on Mazars to comply with the accounting standards.
“We relied on Mazars to understand GAAP,” Weisselberg said.
“You were relying on Mazars to make a representation back to Mazars?” Solomon said, prompting Weisselberg to reverse his statement.
When questioned about the seemingly boilerplate accounting obligations to which the Trump Organization agreed, Weisselberg appeared to struggle to articulate who at the Trump Organization fulfilled the basic responsibilities as outlined.
Oct 10, 1:21 PM EDT
Weisselberg denies discussing financial statements with Trump
After initially evading the state’s question, ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg denied that he ever met with Trump to discuss his financial statements.
“Did you ever meet with Donald Trump or Michael Cohen where there was discussion of the statement of financial condition before it was finalized?” state attorney Louis Solomon asked.
Weisselberg initially responded that he did not recall such a meeting happening, before answering more definitively.
“No. I don’t believe it happened,” Weisselberg said.
Judge Engoron, appearing skeptical of the answer, asked Weisselberg to confirm.
“Could it have happened, and you just don’t remember?” Engoron asked.
“I am saying it did not happen,” Weisselberg responded.
The attorney general’s opening statement for the case included a portion of the deposition of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who claimed that Trump met with him and Weisselberg to direct them to increase his net worth, in order “to be higher on the Forbes list” of billionaires.
“Allen and I were tasked with taking the assets, increasing each of those asset classes in order to accommodate that eight-billion-dollar number [Trump requested],” Cohen said in the deposition.
Oct 10, 11:55 AM EDT
Weisselberg concedes Trump’s triplex is smaller than valuation
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg testified that Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower is 10,996 square feet — which is a third the size that Trump claimed on financial documents.
In October 1994, Trump signed a document that certified his penthouse triplex is 10,996 square feet, but his statements of financial condition for several years beginning in 2012 listed the apartment as 30,000 square feet.
An attorney with the New York attorney general’s office showed the page with Trump’s signature to Weisselberg, who appeared to struggle to explain the discrepancy.
“It was always in my mind a de minimis asset on the statement of financial condition,” Weisselberg said. “I never even thought about the apartment.”
Louis Solomon of the attorney general’s office confronted Weisselberg with emails from Forbes magazine seeking clarity about the apartment’s size, as well as a letter signed by Weisselberg certifying the 30,000 square foot figure to the Trump Organization’s then-accountant, Mazars USA.
Weisselberg offered a lengthy take on the discrepancy, prompting Judge Arthur Engoron to intercede.
“Your role is to answer the questions, not to give speeches. Please just answer the questions,” Engoron said.
“Forbes was right, the triplex was actually only 10,996, right?” Solomon asked.
“Right,” Weisselberg finally conceded.
“I’ve been through quite a bit the last two years,” Weisselberg said at one point during the morning’s questioning. The former CFO moved to Florida following three months in jail after he pleaded guilty last year to criminal fraud charges and subsequently testified against the Trump Organization.
Oct 10, 9:47 AM EDT
Weisselberg to be questioned about valuations
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg is expected to face questions this morning about his work valuing properties like Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower and Trump’s 40 Wall Street building, as well as the Trump Organization’s efforts to secure loans from banks and Weisselberg’s direct conversations with the former president.
Weisselberg is the second named defendant to testify in the ongoing civil trial.
Trump Organization controller and co-defendant Jeffrey McConney, who concluded his testimony on Friday, was deemed a hostile witness by Judge Arthur Engoron, giving the state more latitude in their questions.
Oct 10, 9:08 AM EDT
Ex-CFO Weisselberg last year pled guilty to tax fraud
Ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg’s expected testimony this morning comes six months after he was released from New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty last year to 15 felony charges related to a long-running scheme to avoid $1.7 million in taxes while working for the Trump Organization.
As a condition of his plea deal, Weisselberg testified last year in the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal trial of the Trump Organization itself.
“Are you embarrassed about what you did?” Trump Organization attorney Alan Futerfas asked Weisselberg during the criminal trial last November.
“More than you can imagine,” replied Weisselberg, who testified that Trump himself was unaware of his tax evasion scheme.
The Trump Organization was convicted and later paid a $1.6 million fine imposed by the judge overseeing the case.
Oct 10, 8:22 AM EDT
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg expected to take stand
Former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg is expected to testify when former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud resumes this morning.
A named defendant in the case alongside Trump and his adult sons, Weisselberg allegedly supervised and approved the inflated valuations in Trump’s financial statements at the center of the state’s case, according to prosecutors.
He’s also alleged to have personally met with the former president each year between 2011 and 2016 to review and get approval for the fraudulent financial statements.
“Mr. Trump made known through Mr. Weisselberg that he wanted his net worth on the Statements to increase — a desire Mr. Weisselberg and others carried out year after year in their fraudulent preparation of the Statements,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote in her initial complaint.
