Trump is now being asked whether the valuations of a number of his properties are accurate.
Instead of answering yes or no, Trump is giving speeches about how and why he invested in various properties.
Again the judge asks Trump’s legal team to stop the speeches.
“I beseech you to control him if you can. If you can’t, I will,” Judge Engoron says.
And it’s done.
The attorney general’s office says they have no further questions.
Donald Trump’s team declines to cross examine him. He is excused from the stand, as his testimony is now over.
Well, we finally had a courtroom laugh moment. Prosecutor asked Trump about his involvement in financials from end of 2021. Trump said his focus at that time was on China and Russia and “keeping our country safe.” Courtroom laughed. Note: Trump wasn’t president in 2021.
Is this not perjury?
I was <blank> then.
No you weren’t.
No I wasn’t.Are you allowed to blatantly lie and just walk it back when called out?
NAL but I think if Trump had argued he was still the President during that time period instead of admitting he wasn’t, then it would have been perjury.
Trump calls trial “political lawfare” (video)
The prosecution is trying to display, through these series of documents, that banks clearly kept asking for financial statements.
Trump had previously said banks don’t really look at those.
Trump says, “I could have done different things”.
He says if there was a problem, he could have given the banks cash or not borrowed the money.
And they’re back from lunch.
The line of questioning after lunch has been all about Donald Trump and Deutsche Bank.
The prosecution is highlighting a term loan agreement from 2012, between Trump and the bank.
The agreement said he must maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5bn. Trump says he was aware of this.
Trump says he had about $300-400m in cash at the time. He tells the court that Deutsche Bank wanted to make sure there was substantial cash.
“Yeah I had a lot of cash,” he says. “That’s all they cared about.”
Kevin Wallace of the attorney general’s team is pressing Trump about the several instances in which he has admitted to directing his team to lower the values of properties - after his team completed financial statements.
Trump is not providing many specifics. “They made a mistake,” he says, adding that the statements had an error disclaimer clause that mean “you don’t have to get sued by the Attorney General of New York”.
It’s the same way he’s been answering most questions today, evading a direct yes or no, and attacking the prosecution.
Trump’s attorney Chris Kise argued earlier in the day that Judge Engoron should allow Trump to give answers in his own way.
“With this witness, it’s far more efficient to listen and take it all in,” Kise said earlier, prompting Wallace to laugh.
Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor, said that Judge Engoron could have already “taken action” and held Donald Trump in contempt of court for his behaviour during today’s testimony.
Penalties for contempt, Epner added, could range from fines to “adverse inferences” and potentially even jail.
Judge Engoron already fined Trump $10,000 (£8,082) for comments made outside of court last month. Financial penalties could potentially be doubled after each outburst.
“I would not be surprised if the starting point for fines was $100,000 or something even higher,” Epner said.
“Whatever the judge does, it’s going to be designed to compel Trump to stop acting in the way he’s been acting”.
Trump has just spent the past five minutes airing his frustrations about the New York fraud trial while on the stand.
He points his finger at New York Attorney General Letitia James as he yells that the “political hack back there” is carrying out the probe to hurt him.
At the end of the rant, Kevin Wallace of the attorney general’s team asks him, “You done?”
“Done,” Trump says, prompting some laughter from the courtroom.
The courtroom is just laughing at Trump now. Anyone’s who’s spent time in court knows how well it goes for those who rant instead of testify.
Judge Engoron is attempting to redirect the court again as Trump continues to go on about his golf course in Scotland.
“Do you want to let the witness ramble on, be unresponsive?” Engoron asks Kevin Wallace of the attorney general’s team.
Trump’s attorney Chris Kise chimes in to say he thinks Trump’s response is a “brilliant answer”.
This prompts a chuckle from Wallace.
Ahead of today’s court session, a former federal prosecutor told BBC News that Donald Trump’s team was attacking the judge and the trial because “they know they’ve already lost”.
Renato Mariotti says he expected Trump to try to “deflect responsibility” and blame accountants or other employees for the false valuations of properties.
He says Trump is going to have to “walk a tightrope” giving evidence today, but adds he believes the former president’s legal team have internally “told him they’re going to lose this case”.
“They’re attacking the judge, not to try to convince him, but because they already know they’ve lost and are trying to spin, or add some colour, to a very bad result.” from Renato Mariotti, former federal prosecutor
Earlier, when the trial resumed after lunch, Trump was being very polite to the court. Now it seems he’s back to his old self.
On the stand, Trump has started to air his complaints with the case once again.
“This case is a disgrace," the former president says. He goes on to claim there is "murder on the streets of New York and the attorney general here is watching every little move”.
During this outburst, Judge Engoron looks ahead with a straight expression and remains silent.
When Trump has finished, Engoron says he defers to the prosecution on how much they want to allow Trump to speak off topic.
Engoron says Trump is a “broken record”, to which Trump replies that the prosecution “keeps asking the same questions, over and over”.
Attorney Kevin Wallace keeps his calm, saying the questioning is “very close to the end”.
This is the last one, I promise. It was just too funny to not include here.
Trump attorney Christopher Kise has just said that he may want to mention information barred by the gag order in a motion for a mistrial.
Alina Habba, another Trump lawyer, seems to confirm the team will make the motion and says they want to reference communications between Engoron and his law clerk.
The judge says he’ll allow Trump’s team to make that motion in writing.
“See, I knew there’d be a love fest,” Engoron concludes.
Kevin Wallace has been showing Trump a series of agreements for loans, which state his business is required to maintain a certain net worth and that his financial statements are “true and correct”.
The documents relate to properties like his hotels in DC and Chicago, and all bear Trump’s signature. By signing those documents, Trump was agreeing to those terms.
We’re getting into the weeds now, but also heading towards the crux of the attorney general’s argument - that Trump submitted misleading financial information to banks to secure favourable loans.
Prosecutors are continuing to go through a series of documents with Trump about several loan agreements, including Trump International Hotel in Chicago.
Kevin Wallace is asking Trump about whether statements of financial condition were included in the loan.
Trump is evading the issue of the financial statements and continuing to talk about how much cash and other assets he has.
The state is asking about a 2021 financial statement. Trump says he thinks it’s accurate - he hopes so.
“I was so busy in the White House,” he says, adding his focus was on “China” and “Russia”.
“For the record, you weren’t president in 2021 were you?” prosecutor Kevin Wallace asks.
Trump says no.
Bwahahaha! What an idjit he is.
