Summary

  • Eric Trump testified for a second day in a $250m (£204m) civil fraud trial after he spent several tense hours on the witness stand on Thursday

  • In his first day of testimony, Eric was shown emails that seemed to contradict claims he had no knowledge of his father's financial statements

  • Eric, a senior executive at the Trump Organization, is a co-defendant alongside his older brother Donald Jr and their father Donald Trump

  • The New York Attorney General is seeking a fine of $250m and a ban on Trump doing business in his home state for misrepresenting his wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars

  • The judge has already ruled that Donald Trump significantly inflated the value of his properties

  • Trump and his sons have denied accusations they falsified business records and committed insurance fraud, among other claims

  1. Court denies Ivanka Trump's bid to avoid testifyingpublished at 13:59 Greenwich Mean Time 3 November 2023

    Madeline Halpert
    Reporting from court

    Ivanka TrumpImage source, Getty Images

    While we wait for court to start, here's an update on Ivanka Trump.

    Ivanka's bid to not testify in this trial was denied last night, meaning she'll have to take the stand. That will likely happen next week.

    The eldest Trump daughter had appealed a ruling from New York Judge Arthur Engoron that she had to testify in court. Ivanka has argued that she should not be required to testify because she moved away from New York and the family business.

    Ivanka was originally a defendant in the fraud case, but she was dismissed earlier this year because of the state's statute of limitations.

    Her brothers Eric and Don Jr remain defendants - alongside their father.

  2. Eric Trump walks into the courtroompublished at 13:56 Greenwich Mean Time 3 November 2023

    Chloe Kim
    Reporting from court

    Eric Trump has just walked into court.

    He will take the witness stand shortly.

  3. Eric Trump arrivespublished at 13:47 Greenwich Mean Time 3 November 2023

    Eric TrumpImage source, Reuters

    Eric Trump has arrived at the New York courthouse ahead of his second day of testimony.

    The prosecution team is already in the courtroom.

    We're expecting proceedings to start at 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT).

  4. Good morning again from courtpublished at 13:40 Greenwich Mean Time 3 November 2023

    Madeline Halpert
    Reporting from court

    We're back in court this morning awaiting Eric Trump's second day of testimony.

    Yesterday, prosecutors tried to tie the second eldest Trump son to his father's financial statements.

    Eric Trump made every attempt to distance himself from the documents, claiming he was not at all involved in preparing the statements for the company.

    He is likely to use this same line of defence today when questioning resumes.

  5. Eric Trump to face another round of questioningpublished at 13:39 Greenwich Mean Time 3 November 2023

    Brandon Livesay
    Reporting from New York

    Hello and welcome to our continued coverage of the $250m (£204m) Trump civil fraud trial.

    Eric Trump, the former president's second oldest son, spent most of Thursday afternoon giving testimony. He is back on the stand today.

    The senior executive of the Trump Organization has so far been peppered with questions about knowledge of his father's financial statements.

    On Thursday, Eric denied having knowledge of any statements of financial condition - the balance sheets the attorney general alleges were fraudulently inflated.

    But the prosecution then showed the court emails which Eric sent that mentioned these documents.

    It appeared to contradict his earlier denials and sets up a fascinating day in court, where both sides are fighting to land a knockout legal blow.

    We have Madeline Halpert and Chloe Kim in the courtroom to bring you updates as they happen.

    Stay with us.

  6. Trump's sons testify in fiery day in courtpublished at 21:15 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Brandon Livesay
    Reporting from New York

    Alina Habba with Donald Trump Jr inside the courtroomImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Alina Habba with Donald Trump Jr inside the courtroom

    With court over for the day, Trump lawyer Alina Habba strode down the steps of the New York courthouse and forcefully declared this trial a "waste of time".

    But her thoughts about how the case is unfolding won't change the fact that Donald Trump, the former US president, will be called to testify next week.

    Today we heard from his two eldest sons, Donald Jr and Eric.

    The testimony focused on various technical accounting matters, but there were some fiery exchanges - particularly from Eric who clashed with prosecutors on several lines of questioning.

    For a full wrap of how today unfolded, you can read this article.

    We're expecting Eric to be back in court again tomorrow, and we will be there to bring you live updates.

    Our team has been Madeline Halpert and Kayla Epstein in court, and Chloe Kim and myself reporting from New York City.

  7. Court adjourns - so what did we learn?published at 20:49 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Chloe Kim
    Reporting from New York

    Court has now adjourned for the day.

    This is quick rundown of what Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump shared in the New York courtroom:

    • Donald Trump Jr continued to deny responsibility for various financial documents, saying he trusted his accountants and other employees around him to manage the Trump Organization's books
    • Trump Jr wrapped up his testimony - with no cross examination - before noon (local time) and did not stay to hear his brother Eric's testimony
    • Eric appeared to contradict himself when asked about his father's financial statements
    • The two brothers had decidedly different demeanors - Trump Jr wasn't afraid to make jokes in the courtroom (even with courtroom sketch artists), while Eric became agitated with some questioning
    • Though the former president was absent from court this week, he voiced support for his "very good children" on social media
  8. Judge reprimands Trump's lawyerpublished at 20:40 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Kayla Epstein
    Reporting from court

    Judge Engoron just reprimanded Trump's lead attorney Chris Kise.

    In a tense exchange, Engoron warned Kise not to refer to his court staff again, and says he detects “a bit of misogyny" in the fact “that you keep referring to my female principal law clerk".

    He threatened Kise with a gag order if he does it again.

    The admonishment did not sit well with Trump’s lawyers, including Kise, who said he felt the New York judge was biased against him.

    “I do often feel like… I’m fighting two adversaries,” Kise said.

    “I’m not a misogynist. I’m very happily married and I have a 17-year-old daughter,” he added.

    Alina Habba, another Trump lawyer, said there is no misogyny on her team, and that she has similar concerns about bias from the clerk.

    Engoron has been very protective of his staff throughout the trial, after Donald Trump attacked the clerk on social media earlier this month. That resulted in a gag order.

    Engoron also fined the former president $10,000 over a comment he made about the clerk during a break in proceedings last week.

    Trump told the judge he was talking about Michael Cohen, but Engoron did not believe him.

  9. Trump grilled about golf course appraisalpublished at 20:20 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Madeline Halpert
    Reporting from court

    For the past half hour, prosecutors have been quizzing Eric Trump about his involvement in the appraisal of units at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County.

    Prosecutors show several email exchanges between Eric and appraiser David McArdle, which they believe demonstrates he was involved in the appraisal process.

    Eric Trump has repeatedly denied his involvement, admitting that he may have sent a couple emails or made a few phone calls, but was not at the helm of the process. As prosecutors have continued to grill him, he's grown frustrated.

    "I pour concrete, I operate properties, I don’t focus on appraisals," he says.

  10. Who is testifying next?published at 20:13 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    As of now, it is unclear whether or not Eric Trump will have to return to the witness stand on Friday. The current schedule has:

    • Donald Trump testifying next Monday
    • Ivanka Trump testifying next Wednesday

    Things could change, though - Ivanka Trump has appealed Judge Engoron's order for her to testify on Wednesday.

  11. Who is Eric Trump?published at 19:56 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Eric TrumpImage source, Reuters

    The youngest of the three children testifying, Eric Trump is also a co-defendant. He is the executive vice-president of the Trump Organization.

    While Eric flies under the radar more so than his brother, Don Jr, the state has alleged that Eric’s word was key in valuing assets and that he was the “chief decision maker”.

    While working on a development in New York state, the attorney general alleges Eric “concealed those limitations from appraisers in order to inflate the value of the Seven Springs estate and fraudulently increase the value of the tax deduction from the resulting easement donation”.

    The 39-year-old has two children with wife Lara Trump.

  12. Why the Trump children have to testifypublished at 19:40 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr are co-defendants in this civil fraud case, but their sister Ivanka Trump is not.

    She is due to testify next week, but her lawyers are trying to stop that happening.

    Watch the video below for a simple explainer on why the Trump trio are testifying.

    Media caption,

    Why Trump’s kids are taking the stand... in 90 seconds

  13. Prosecutors focus on Seven Springs propertypublished at 19:22 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Madeline Halpert
    Reporting from court

    Trump's Seven Springs estateImage source, Getty Images

    Prosecutors are now asking Eric Trump a series of questions about the Trump Organization's Seven Springs estate and golf club, which Trump Sr bought in the 1990s for $7.5m.

    Eric Trump oversaw the property, whose value the New York Attorney General's team has alleged was greatly inflated.

    During testimony earlier in the day, Eric Trump said he spent "some of the best years of my life" at the estate, where he lived and worked in high school, later taking on more management responsibilities.

  14. Donald Trump goes after judge for 'persecuting' his sonspublished at 18:52 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Over the last couple of hours, Donald Trump has been sharing a flurry of posts on his social media, Truth Social.

    He wrote in one of the posts: "Engoron is a wacko who is having a great time endlessly sanctioning, fining, & pushing around “TRUMP,” hurting my very good children, & working to damage & defame me for purposes of Interfering with the 2024 Presidential Election.

    "So sad to see my sons being PERSECUTED in a political Witch Hunt," he wrote in his most recent post.

    He also lashed out at what he called "fake news" covering the trial.

  15. Video of Eric Trump appears to contradict emails shown to courtpublished at 18:44 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Madeline Halpert
    Reporting from court

    A video is now playing for the courtroom. It's a previous deposition with Eric Trump, in which he continues to deny his involvement with his father's financial statement.

    This would appear to contradict the emails that prosecutors just showed the court.

    “It would be pretty hard to provide someone with information for a statement that I just testified that I knew virtually nothing about, I didn’t work on and didn’t see," Eric Trump says in the video. "I never, to the best of my knowledge ever, directly worked on it," he added.

  16. Emails show Eric Trump talking about father's financial statementspublished at 18:38 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Madeline Halpert
    Reporting from court

    The courtroom is now being shown an email between Eric Trump and Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney.

    The emails show Eric respond to a message sent by McConney which asks for information - specifically mentioning Donald Trump's financial statement.

    Earlier, Eric said he was not involved in financial statements for his father.

    He now tells the court that while he agreed to help McConney, there's a "difference" between sending information to be used for "financials" versus Eric Trump himself writing a financial statement.

  17. Court sketch shows Eric Trump on the standpublished at 18:19 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Eric TrumpImage source, Reuters

    While we wait for court to get back into the flow of questioning, let's look at another sketch.

    This time it's of the younger Trump brother, Eric. Artist Jane Rosenberg shared these images after Eric took the stand earlier.

  18. Court resumes after lunchpublished at 18:18 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Madeline Halpert
    Reporting from court

    We're back in court after a lunch break and Eric Trump is on the stand once again.

    Prosecutors are still going over some emails about his father's financial statements.

  19. Court heard possible evidence that Trump knew he'd lost electionpublished at 17:58 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Kayla Epstein
    Reporting from court

    Donald Trump dancingImage source, Getty Images

    In court yesterday, the attorney general's office produced a new piece of evidence: A document signed by Donald Trump taking back control of the trust he'd created in 2017.

    That trust was used to hold his assets during his presidency. The idea was to avoid conflicts of interest between his political and business roles while in the White House.

    Trump signed the document, which reinstated him as a trustee, on 15 January 2021, just days before he was set to vacate the White House.

    It was set to take effect the day of Joe Biden's inauguration - 20 January 2021.

    At the time, Trump was falsely claiming the election had been stolen from him.

    But the document shows that he was preparing to take back control of his businesses once he was no longer president.

    Legal commentator Andrew Weissmann posited on X , externalthat the document could potentially "show that Trump knew... that he had not won the election."

    Weissmann believed the document could have implications for Trump's federal election interference case, too.

  20. Trump Jr signed off statement that valued penthouse at $327m (£268.8m)published at 17:40 Greenwich Mean Time 2 November 2023

    Earlier during Donald Trump Jr's testimony, we heard how he signed off on a statement of financial condition that said the Trump Tower penthouse was 30,000 sq ft (2,787 sq m).

    This valued it at a total of $327m (£268.8m). That would be $10,900 per sq ft.

    In reality, the apartment is said to be about 10,000-11,000 sq ft.

    Trump Jr reiterated that he relied on internal and external accountants for the accuracy of the statements.

    “I relied on Mazars and our accounting team to tell me what is accurate in regards to accounting. That’s why we have accountants," he said.