Bernd Debusmann Jr
US reporter

Image source, Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

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".

Alina Habba has spoken to media on the stairs outside court during the lunch break.

Habba claims the case against her client is political and she takes aim at Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"They've got nothing. They've got nothing but their politics," Habba says.

Habba mentions that she was told to sit down by the judge, and later calls him "enraged" and says he "doesn't know how to handle" Trump.

Trump's legal team has focused on the judge and attorney general throughout the trial, and frequently claim it is a political witch hunt against the former president.

Another focus of Habba's speech was her belief the case has already been determined by the judge and Trump's legal team feels like they are not being given a fair trial.

As the court breaks for lunch, let's take a look at the photographs to come out from the day so far.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

Donald Trump is not restraining himself on the stand at all, despite numerous warnings from the judge that this is not a political rally. His performance is classic Trump.

It’s been complete with boasting, with him claiming that he is more of an expert than anyone else on real estate and that he is worth far more than what’s on his statements.

There’s been plenty of rambling, stream-of-conscious monologues. He isn’t so much answering questions, but more reacting to what he feels is the premise of the questions.

In court, defendants usually put their emotions aside. But Trump is as animated as ever, either appearing bored, waving his hands in frustration, or pursing his lips. He even seemed to relish his lawyers sparring with the judge, smiling slightly with amusement when it happened.

And true to form, he is attacking his opponents. He had harsh words for the judge and the Attorney General Letitia James, who is sitting in the courtroom watching. He doesn’t seem bothered about the potential consequences.

Court has broken for lunch. Donald Trump strolled past cameras outside of the courtroom with only a thumbs up for the waiting media. New York Attorney General Letitia James was also silent as she left.

It's been a spiky few hours, here's what happened:

Trump's defence

• Trump's testimony so far has focused on arguing his accountants or other employees are responsible for mistakes that inflated the value of his properties
• He has also claimed the value of several high-profile Trump Organisation properties are worth more than the court has heard
• He said financial statements contained a "disclaimer clause" telling banks to do their own "due diligence" of his accounts

Angry exchanges with judge

• Much of his time on the stand has been used to attack federal prosecutors and Judge Arthur Engoron
• There have been several exchanges between the judge and Trump, with the former president being reprimanded for trying to hold a "political rally" on the stand
• After repeatedly instructing him to answer questions, Judge Engoron's frustration eventfully led to him instructing the Trump's lawyers to "control your client"
• This does not seem to have had the desired effect, given Trump went on to accuse New York Attorney General of being a "political hack"

Court is a few minutes away from breaking for lunch.

We have a livestream outside the courtroom in case Donald Trump or his legal team decide to make a statement to media.

You can watch the livestream by pressing the Play button at the top of this page.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Prosecutors are questioning Trump about the specifics of his 40 Wall Street property. They're asking about a $7m (£5.6m) deficit that the building ran.

Trump argues the deficit does not affect the value of the property. “You have to spend money to make money," he says.

Trump then takes aim at New York Attorney General Letitia James, claiming she has no idea how much the property is worth.

"She doesn't even know what 40 Wall Street is," he says.

The comment sparks a chuckle from the attorney general herself.

Chloe Kim
Reporting from court

The state is now showing a news article from Forbes Magazine which delved into Donald Trump exaggerating his worth.

Trump is dismissive of Forbes and the article saying, "I haven't dealt with them in years".

"I think they're out of business," he says. "I don't think too much about what I say to Forbes."

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Trump is still shifting responsibility for the company's financial statements to accountants. But when asked by the prosecution who at the company was responsible for preventing fraud, Trump says "everybody".

“If anybody sees anything wrong, then they should report it,” he says, claiming people have raised issues with him directly in the past.

Judge Engoron chooses his battlespublished at 17:31 Greenwich Mean Time 6 November 2023

17:31 GMT 6 November 2023

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

From watching this drama play out for two and a half hours, it seems like Judge Engoron knows Trump is making campaign speeches from the bench.

Trump has both a political and financial incentive to attack the judge: He's able to fundraise millions of dollars off of these court appearances. He can spin these outbursts, which will be reported verbatim by the dozens of press assembled, into fodder for campaign emails and Truth Social posts.

So it's notable that Judge Engoron doesn't engage when Trump attacks him directly.

Rather, he holds his reprimands for when Trump rambles on, or doesn't answer the questions from Kevin Wallace of the attorney general's office.

Perhaps he doesn't want to give Trump the sort of fight he's clearly itching for, or provide any opening for Trump's lawyers to allege bias if (but really, when) they appeal the case.

Chloe Kim
Reporting from court

There's been a lot of arguing, but in between various spats we have heard Trump talking about a disclaimer clause.

He says his company had a "very important clause" about the financial statements; it said banks have to do their own "due diligence" - their own study and analysis.

He said the disclaimer is on the first page and throughout the statement.

Trump says banks are encouraged to go out and get their own appraiser, their own accountant to review the statement. He claims this clause is why the case should be thrown out.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Image source, EPA

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.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

The former president's two hours of testimony have so far proven much more tense than either of his adult sons' days in court.

Though Judge Engoron occasionally criticised Trump's second eldest son, Eric, for not answering prosecutors' questions directly, Engoron has reprimanded Donald Trump Sr more than any other family member.

The New York judge has also issued the harshest threat against Donald Trump, warning he could draw "negative inference" from Trump's responses if he doesn't answer questions more directly.

The attorney questioning him, Kevin Wallace, has remained calm and collected amid the drama, including after Trump yelled that New York Attorney General Letitia James is a "political hack" who is "trying to demean me".

Engoron laughed and Wallace smiled as he says he does not want to strike Trump's answer from the record.

It's more levity from Wallace than we saw last week.

Image source, Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

Court artist Jane Rosenberg has just published this sketch of Donald Trump on the stand.

It shows the former president being questioned by Kevin Wallace of the New York Attorney General's office.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

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.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Since coming back from the break, Judge Arthur Engoron has appeared more restrained in his criticisms of Trump. He has stayed silent for most of Trump's testimony.

The former president has continued to provide lengthy answers.

At one point, the judge shook his head at one of Trump's answers about Mar-a-Lago.

He just chimed in for the first time in a while to say "irrelevant, irrelevant, answer the question", when Trump was talking about Trump International Golf Club in Scotland.

Trump had said it was "an unbelievable site" and "one of the greatest pieces of land I've ever seen".

Image source, Getty Images

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".

Chloe Kim
Reporting from court

Image source, Getty Images

We're on to the topic of Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private club in Florida.

The state asks Trump if he valued Mar-a-Lago as if it would be sold to an individual.

This topic has come up in previous questioning of other witnesses, too.

Trump says the most valuable method would be to value it as a club and residence.

The state says as of 2014 it was valued at $405m.

Trump says it is much more valuable and says the defence will bring in an "expert to explain that to you" in a couple weeks or before "this thing" is over.

Trump adds it is a "very successful club at that".

You can read more about Mar-a-Lago, and if it could be overvalued, in this article.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

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.

Chloe Kim
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters

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.