Trump's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Trump testified at his fraud trial yesterday, and it did not go well, I'm not sure that it went worse for him than I would have predicted, but it was not pretty.

His lawyers have the worst job on earth, even if one does not consider the liklihood that he will stiff them on their fees:

He was belligerent and brash, unrepentant and verbose — regardless of the courtroom setting, he was the quintessential Donald J. Trump.

Within minutes of Mr. Trump’s taking the witness stand on Monday, his civil fraud trial in Manhattan devolved into a chaotic spectacle before a packed house. The former president lashed out at his accusers and denied their claims, even while conceding involvement in some of the conduct at the case’s heart.

Ranting and rambling as the courtroom pulsed with tension, Mr. Trump attacked New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, as a “political hack.” He derided the proceeding as “a very unfair trial.” And he scolded the judge overseeing the case, Arthur F. Engoron, for having decided before the trial that he had committed fraud.

“He called me a fraud, and he didn’t know anything about me!” Mr. Trump exclaimed from the stand, pointing at the judge, who flashed a grin.

………

“I would look at them, I would see them, and I would maybe on occasion have some suggestions,” said Mr. Trump, who began the day looking tired but soon grew animated.

Although the admission appeared to bolster the attorney general’s case, Mr. Trump, seated 30 feet from Ms. James, also sought to minimize the import of the financial statements, which he said he largely left to aides. He noted that they contained numerous disclaimers, making them essentially “worthless.” Banks paid little attention to them, he said, before promising, unprompted, that some of his bankers would soon testify in his defense.

………

He delivered an impassioned ode to his golf course near Aberdeen, Scotland, calling it an “artistic expression” and the greatest ever built. He assailed Justice Engoron: “The fraud is on the court, not me.”

The judge, who will determine the outcome of the case instead of a jury, repeatedly admonished Mr. Trump for not directly responding to questions from Ms. James’s team.

“You can attack me. You can do whatever you want,” Justice Engoron told him, “but answer the question.”

When the judge turned to Mr. Trump with a simple request — “please no speeches” — his words drew a smirk from the former president, who continued to meander. At one point, Mr. Trump interrupted Kevin Wallace, a state lawyer questioning him, with an “Excuse me, sir,” so that he could opine about what he would have done had he in fact wanted to inflate the value of his assets.

………

Frequently, Mr. Wallace drew Mr. Trump in with simple questions about whether he had depended on the banks to rely on his financial statements. Mr. Trump affirmed that he had, without seeming to realize that the question went to intent, a necessary element for Ms. James’s lawyers to show.

He also couldn’t resist exaggerating in exactly the fashion that has left him vulnerable to the attorney general’s claims. When asked how big his triplex in Trump Tower is, he at first provided the accurate answer, 11,000 square feet. Seemingly unable to stop himself, he then said 12,000. Then, he said 13,000.

Mr. Trump also said that he had directed his employees to drop the value of his Westchester County, N.Y., estate, Seven Springs, because he “thought it was too high,” another acknowledgment of his involvement in the financial statements.

………

But his expansive answers irritated the judge. As Mr. Trump spoke lovingly about Mar-a-Lago, calling it “beautiful” and a “success,” Justice Engoron looked up at the ceiling. The more Mr. Trump speechified, the more Justice Engoron rolled his eyes.

After Mr. Trump blurted that Aberdeen was the oil capital of Europe, Justice Engoron barked, “Irrelevant, irrelevant. Answer the question.”

In a criminal case, a jury or judge cannot hold a defendant's refusal to answer questions against him. But this case is civil, and the rules are different: A judge can make what is called a “negative inference” — a damning assumption about why a defendant won’t answer.

At one point Monday, the judge, fed up with Mr. Trump’s nonresponsive responses, threatened to excuse the former president from the stand and assume the worst about why he wouldn’t answer.

A pissed off judge in a non jury trial.  Here's hoping that the judge goes all Billie Ray Valentine* on Trump. 

Also, have I mentioned that his lawyers have the worst job in the world?

^*The Eddie Murphy character from Trading Places, "You know, it occurs to me that the best way to hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people."