NEW YORK: Donald Trump Jr testified on Monday (Nov 13) about what he called the “sexiness” of his father’s real estate portfolio, in his second time being called to the stand in the former US president’s civil fraud trial.
Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is accused along with his two adult sons and 10 of his companies of inflating his net worth by as much as US$2.2 billion to secure better financing.
The lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James seeks at least US$250 million in damages as well as restrictions that would effectively bar Trump and his adult sons from New York’s real estate industry.
In response to questioning from his lawyer Clifford Robert, Donald Jr spoke at length about his father’s business acumen, saying the “sexiness” of his real estate projects attracted licensing deals with other developers who wanted to emulate his style.
Lawyers’ for James’ office objected to the line of questioning as irrelevant, but Justice Arthur Engoron disagreed.
“Let him go ahead and talk about how great the Trump Organization is,” said Engoron, who has defended himself during the trial from allegations of bias from Trump and his lawyers.
Donald Jr has already been called as a witness by the attorney general’s office, along with his father and brother Eric Trump. His sister Ivanka Trump also testified but is not a defendant.