Trump blasts N.Y. fraud case, claims he prevented nuclear conflict in newly launched transcript

NEW YORK — Donald Trump defended his actual property empire and his presidency in a face-to-face conflict with the New York lawyer basic suing him for fraud, testifying at a closed-door grilling in April that his firm is flush with money — and claiming he saved “millions of lives” by deterring nuclear conflict when he was president.

Trump, in testimony made public Wednesday, mentioned it was a “terrible thing” that Attorney General Letitia James was suing him over claims he made on annual monetary statements about his web price and the worth of his skyscrapers, golf programs and different property.

James launched Trump’s 479-page deposition transcript in a flurry of court docket filings forward of a Sept. 22 listening to the place Judge Arthur Engoron might resolve half or all the case earlier than it’s scheduled to go to trial in October. She pointed to proof that reveals Trump inflated his web price by as much as 39%, or greater than $2 billion, in some years.

Sitting throughout from James at her Manhattan workplace on April 13, Trump mentioned, “you don’t have a case and you should drop this case.” Noting his contributions to the town’s skyline, Trump mentioned “it’s a shame” that “now I have to come and justify myself to you.”

Trump testified that he thought-about being president “the most important job in the world,” itemizing as accomplishments his arduous line on China, making certain Russia didn’t invade Ukraine on his watch and stopping North Korea’s Kim Jong Un from launching a nuclear assault.

“I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn’t deal with North Korea,” Trump testified. “I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren’t elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth.”

James is urging Engoron to grant abstract judgment and situation an instantaneous verdict endorsing her declare that Trump and his firm defrauded lenders, insurers and others by mendacity about his wealth and the worth of his property.

To rule, Engoron wants solely to reply two questions, James’ workplace argued: whether or not Trump’s annual monetary statements have been false or deceptive, and whether or not he and the Trump Organization used these statements whereas conducting enterprise transactions.

“The answer to both questions is a resounding ‘yes’ based on the mountain of undisputed evidence” within the case, James’ particular litigation counsel Andrew Amer mentioned in a 100-page abstract judgment movement.

Trump’s attorneys are asking Engoron to dismiss the case solely.

They argue that lots of the lawsuit’s allegations are barred by the state’s statute of limitations and that James has no standing to sue him as a result of the entities he allegedly defrauded “have never complained, and indeed have profited from their business dealings with President Trump and his corporate empire.”

Even if Engoron guidelines on the fraud declare, he would nonetheless preside over a non-jury trial on six different remaining claims within the lawsuit if it isn’t settled.

Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in subsequent 12 months’s presidential election, has claimed the lawsuit is a part of a “politically motivated Witch Hunt” led by James and different Democrats.

James’ lawsuit, involving allegations about Trump’s pre-presidential life as a businessman, is considered one of many authorized complications he faces as he seeks a return to the White House.

Trump has been indicted 4 instances within the final 5 months — accused in Georgia and Washington, D.C., of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss, in Florida of hoarding categorized paperwork, and in Manhattan of falsifying enterprise data associated to hush cash paid on his behalf. Some of Trump’s legal trials are scheduled to overlap with the busy presidential major season.

James sued Trump in September 2022, alleging what she dubbed the “Art of the Steal” — inflating his web price and the worth of property like golf programs, inns and his Mar-a-Lago property on his annual statements of monetary curiosity for at the very least a decade. Her lawsuit seeks $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing enterprise in New York.

Trump mentioned he solely had the monetary statements made so he might see an inventory of his many properties and mentioned he “never felt that these statements would be taken very seriously,” however that monetary establishments would sometimes ask for them. Some of the values listed have been based mostly on “guesstimates,” he conceded.

“I have a clause in there that says, ‘Don’t believe the statement. Go out and do your own work.’ This statement is ‘worthless.’ It means nothing,” Trump testified. Given the disclaimer, he mentioned, “you’re supposed to pay no credence to what we say whatsoever.”

Trump answered questions with such verbosity on the April deposition — veering from evasiveness to bluster to filibuster at instances — that one lawyer anxious his seven hours of sworn testimony might go till midnight.

It was a reversal from a deposition final 12 months, earlier than James filed her lawsuit, through which Trump refused to reply all however a number of procedural questions. At that earlier deposition, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment safety in opposition to self-incrimination greater than 400 instances.

Trump testified in April that his firm, the Trump Organization, has over $400 million in money. He claimed Mar-a-Lago is price $1.5 billion and a golf course he owns close to Miami is price $2 billion or $2.5 billion. He mentioned he believes he might promote one other golf course he owns in Scotland to the Saudi-backed LIV golf league “for a fortune.”

“Do you know the banks were fully paid? Do you know the banks made a lot of money?” Trump testified. “Do you know I don’t believe I ever got even a default notice, and even during COVID, the banks were all paid? And yet you’re suing on behalf of banks, I guess. It’s crazy. The whole case is crazy.”

Trump will not be anticipated to testify in court docket if the case goes to trial, however video recordings of Trump’s depositions could possibly be performed.