courtesy: CNBC
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The past couple of days have been proved to be some of the most tensed day in Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud case, as the Attorney General’s office pressed the former president’s two adult sons Thursday regarding their awareness and involvement in the financial statement of their father, Trump.
The back-to-back appearances by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. – who both helped run the Trump Organisation while their father was in the White House – comes days before former president’s testimony on Monday.
The sons are the co-defendants in the case, along with their father, Trump Organisation, and several other company executives.
Assistant Attorney General Andrew Amer’s examination grew tense as he pressed Eric about his knowledge of his father’s financial statements that were used to support real estate transactions and also confronted him about the emails dating back to 2010.
The defendants acknowledged he provided information to former Trump Organisation controller Jeff McConney, who is also a co-defendant in the trial. But he tried to distinguish between specific statements of financial condition and general financial records for the organisation.
Eric stated, “What seems to not be registering is the difference between sending things used for financial and sending things used for statement of financial condition.” He continued that the detail that “it was for a personal statement of financial condition” was irrelevant to him.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. repeatedly asserted that he relied on his accountants as he was not involved with the preparations of financial statements. On the contrary, he did sign the financial statements as a trustee of his father’s revocable trust.
He began as a trustee in 2017, when Trump took charge of the president’s office. Trump Jr. signed certifications for annual financial submittals required to pass loans for Trump Organisation at Deutsche Back for the Old Post Office, Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, and Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida.