(New York) Unusual scene at Donald Trump’s civil trial: the former President of the United States had to take the stand on Wednesday about new offensive comments outside the courtroom and was fined a second fine, of $10,000, after unsuccessfully pleading misunderstanding.
Judge Arthur Engoron estimated that the Republican billionaire had once again attacked his principal clerk, while Donald Trump assured him that he was in fact targeting his sworn enemy Michael Cohen, who has been testifying against him since Tuesday in this fraud case on the value of the real estate assets of the Trump Organization.
“The witness (Donald Trump) was not credible,” ruled the magistrate, before imposing a fine of $10,000. On Friday, Arthur Engoron had already imposed a first fine of $5,000, for a publication deemed insulting about his clerk, which remained on the DonaldJTrump.com site for 17 days despite the magistrate’s request for removal.
This time, Donald Trump’s words were ambiguous. “This judge is a very partisan judge with a really partisan person sitting next to him, perhaps even more partisan than him,” he said in front of the cameras, in the hallway leading to the courtroom.
Informed of this new outing, the judge recalled that he had banned any comments against members of his team from the second day of the trial.
“Mafia boss”
After his lawyers pleaded a misunderstanding – Michael Cohen was seated to the left of the judge, his clerk to the right – Arthur Engoron wanted to hear the version of the former president himself and asked him to sit in the place of the judges. witnesses, for the first time since the trial began three weeks ago.
Face closed, Donald Trump replied “you and Cohen” when the judge asked him who he was targeting. Without convincing.
The hearing continued with the end of Michael Cohen’s testimony, grilled by Donald Trump’s lawyers, who highlighted his “lies” and his changes of heart since the time he worked for the former president.
PHOTO BRENDAN MCDERMID, REUTERS
Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen
Former personal lawyer of Donald Trump, Michael Cohen turned against him after being caught by American justice in 2018, then sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion, lying before Congress, and violation of campaign financing laws election for the benefit of his former boss.
Pushed to his limits, he ended up admitting that he did not remember a direct intervention from Donald Trump to ask him to inflate the value of his real estate assets, an apparent contradiction with his testimony the day before.
Donald Trump’s lawyers then asked the judge to immediately pronounce a verdict and clear their client, which he refused, causing the former US president to leave the courtroom, visibly furious.
Michael Cohen then explained that Donald Trump spoke like a “mafia boss”, without giving an explicit order. Donald Trump “could tell us: ‘I’m not worth 4.5 billion (dollars). I’m more around 6 billion,” he had already said on Tuesday.