On the Stand, Son Calls Trump 'Visionary'

Defense presents photos of Trump Organization real estate
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 13, 2023 4:28 PM CST
Donald Trump Jr. Praises His Father and Properties
Donald Trump, Jr. walks outside the courtroom at New York Supreme Court on Monday in New York.   (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

In his final testimony in the New York civil fraud trial of his family and its company, Donald Trump Jr. talked about the great worth of Trump Organization properties—though the state's accusation is that the real estate's value was intentionally low-balled for fraudulent purposes. The witness, called as the defense began making its case, praised his father on Monday as not just the brains of the company's success, but as a "visionary" and "an artist with real estate" who made the properties more valuable, the New York Times reports. Glass cubes installed atop the Trump Park Avenue building were reminiscent of the Louvre, the witness said, per CNN.

The defense countered the state's spreadsheets and financial statements with photos of luxury properties pulled from the Trump Organization website. That gave Trump a chance to call one of them "spectacular" and Mar-a-Lago "one of the few sort of American castles." Prosecutors objected to the 100-slide show, per CBS News, but Judge Arthur Engoron said he wanted to hear Trump's "historical perspective."

Cross-examination returned to harder facts, as when Colleen Faherty showed a news article saying the occupancy rate at one building is 77%, though Trump had just put it at 90%. She pointed out that the owner of the Trump hotel in Waikiki is dropping the family name and making it a Hilton. Defense lawyers have said they'll probably call Donald Trump and his other adult son, Erik Trump, back to the stand before the trial ends. (More Trump New York fraud trial stories.)

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