Trump ditches trademark red tie in New York court for fraud trial
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Former President Donald Trump was back in a Manhattan courthouse for the second day in a row on Wednesday, this time ditching his signature uniform for a blue tie. It was a new approach for Trump, who wore his signature red tie on Tuesday as he attacked New York prosecutors, a day after a federal judge placed a gag order on him.
In court, a prosecutor accused Trump of distorting “inducements” during testimony by a real estate expert, in a trial in which the judge had already ruled that he committed fraud by submitting excessive values for parts of his real estate empire to lenders. At one point, during Newmark real estate executive Doug Larson’s testimony, Trump tapped the table where he sat next to his team of lawyers and could be heard talking to his team.
That led to a complaint from prosecutor Kevin Wallace, who wanted Judge Arthur Engoron to tell Trump to stop. “Can the defendant please stop commenting during the deposition?” Wallace said, ABC News reported. “I believe the exhortations are also audible on this side of the courtroom.”
The judge instead issued an admonishment to the entire courtroom. “I will ask everyone to be quiet as the witness testifies,” he said. That came a day after Trump stormed into New York Attorney General Letitia James at the courthouse but was sparing with the judge.
“They’re the fraudulent people,” Trump fumed about James and Engoron, before saying of Engoron, “I like him, but it’s not fair.” Trump attorney Lazaro Fields went after the witness when he made inconsistent statements. “You lied yesterday, didn’t you?” Fields said.
The judge then excused the witness while lawyers sorted out the situation. Larson had denied working with Jeffrey McConney, director of the Trump Organization. “Did you work with Mr. McConney in 2013 to determine the maximum interest rate he used to value his property?” State’s Attorney Mark Ladov asked Larson yesterday, referring to Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s controller.
But Larson said Wednesday that “Jeff McConney would call me periodically, not often, to talk about sales and market conditions.” The Trump unrest that prompted the prosecutor’s complaint came as Larson denied working with McConney on the value of his Wall Street property.
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