Trump’s Own Witness in Fraud Trial Admits He Knows Nothing About Finances

One of Donald Trump’s expert witnesses in the New York business fraud trial admitted Friday that he is not, in fact, an expert.

Steven Laposa first took the stand Thursday to discuss the valuation of Trump’s real estate holdings. The New York attorney general has accused Trump and his allies of fraudulently inflating the value of their real estate assets to get more favorable terms on bank loans.

Laposa said the attorney general’s approach to valuation was “flawed” because it relied on a market value analysis of Trump’s properties. He argued it should have been based on the investment value, which takes into account the owner’s investment requirements.

When Laposa returned to the stand Friday, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office asked him if he had any experience reviewing personal financial statements. Laposa said no.

The lawyer, Louis Solomon, then asked if Laposa is or has ever been a certified appraiser. Again, Laposa said no.

Solomon cited Laposa’s initial deposition from July, in which he said that when “disparate valuations exist, it is prudent and common practice to examine the underlying assumptions.” Laposa admitted he had not done so with Trump’s valuations.

Laposa also revealed he had never seen the financial statements for Trump’s property at 40 Wall Street, which might make it difficult to value the property accurately. (On the stand Thursday, Laposa said that 40 Wall Street in Manhattan was also undervalued.)

It’s unclear what Trump’s legal team sought to accomplish by bringing in Laposa as an expert witness. His disastrous testimony reflects how much of the trial has gone for Trump.

The current trial is just to set damages. Presiding Judge Arthur Engoron determined in September that Trump had committed fraud. Engoron ordered that all Trump’s New York business certificates be canceled, making it nearly impossible to do business in the state and effectively killing the Trump Organization.

During the trial, Trump and his family members have all testified, and they have all made major mistakes. Trump’s lawyers also shared faulty evidence, undermining their own case.

Donald Trump was back to attacking New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s law clerk just hours after an appellate court suspended the gag order in his New York bank fraud trial.

In a post made on Truth Social Thursday evening, Trump slammed the gag order as “ridiculous and unconstitutional,” taking special note to ridicule the judge’s “politically biased and out of control, Trump hating clerk,” Allison Greenfield. Trump went on to snub Greenfield as “a disgrace” who is “sinking” Engoron and his court “to new levels of low.”

Engoron initially issued the gag order after Trump made derogatory comments toward his courtroom staff, specifically Greenfield, whom he accused of bias over a baseless assertion that she was dating Senator Chuck Schumer. Trump’s digital diatribe against the legal aide then ushered a scourge of far-right sympathizers onto her social media accounts.

“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them in any circumstances,” Engoron said at the time.

Since then, Trump has twice violated the gag order, accruing $15,000 in fines and the threat of jail time.

Trump’s attorneys applauded the lifted order on Thursday, suggesting that public haranguing of courtroom staff is just a part of the job.

“There is not a day that I don’t get a threat. It’s just part of the game,” said Trump attorney Alina Habba. “If I put something out on social media, and I get a threat for it, which has happened to me every single day, I don’t get to cry.”

Another gag order on the former president survives, however, in his federal election subversion trial, overseen by Judge Tanya Chutkan.

Newly released audio from an interview recorded just two months after January 6 captures Donald Trump’s real thoughts on the insurrection. In his own words, the former president claimed it was within his abilities to stop the riot.

When asked by ABC chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl if he would have returned to the Capitol Building while thousands of MAGA supporters raided the building, Trump said he “would have.”

“I was going to,” Trump said in the recording, first published by CNN. “And then Secret Service said ‘you can’t’, and then by the time … I was thinking about going back during the problem to stop the problem, doing it myself. Secret Service didn’t like that idea too much.”

“And I could’ve done that,” Trump continued. “And you know what? I would have been very well received. Don’t forget, the people that went to Washington that day, in my opinion, they went because they thought the election was rigged. That’s why they went.”

But that cozy narrative—in which Trump wanted to benevolently wield his power to stop the riot—flies in the face of testimonies provided by more than a thousand witnesses during House January 6 committee hearings, including that of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

According to Hutchinson, an “irate” Trump wanted to join the protesters at the Capitol Building so badly that he lunged at the clavicle of one of his Secret Service agents, Bobby Engel, before attempting to take the wheel of the presidential limo, nicknamed The Beast.

Hutchinson also testified that she overheard Trump saying he did not care if his supporters wielded weapons as they descended on Congress since he didn’t believe he would be a target of the violence.

The morning of, Trump also allegedly expressed frustration that his Secret Service were using metal-detecting magnetometers to keep armed people out of the area where he was set to give a speech.

“I overheard the president say something to the effect of ‘I don’t fucking care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the fucking mags away. Let my people in, they can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in, take the f---ing mags away,” she said.

Trump denied those allegations.

The January 6 committee also heard testimony purporting that Trump expressed support when he heard rioters were chanting to “hang Mike Pence” over the vice president fulfilling his constitutional duty to certify the vote for Joe Biden’s presidency.

In an 814-page final report, the committee determined that Trump “lit that fire,” fueling the violent, life-threatening raid in the weeks immediately preceding the insurrection.

Trump has been charged with four felony counts related to his actions on January 6, 2021.

Ex–Donald Trump attorney Jenna Ellis lashed out at her former boss, after his allies attacked her for flipping on the former president in the Fulton County case.

Ellis struck a plea deal with Fulton County prosecutors in late October, agreeing to testify against Donald Trump in exchange for a lighter sentence. Noted Islamophobe Laura Loomer, whom Donald Trump Jr. recommended as his father’s next press secretary, took aim at Ellis Thursday on X (formerly Twitter). Loomer called Ellis a “waste of space” and a “fake Christian.”

“Disloyal Harlots go to hell, Jenna,” Loomer wrote.

Ellis came out swinging Thursday night. “Don Jr’s pick for press secretary is claiming I am a ‘disloyal harlot’ and ‘going to hell,’” she tweeted.

“No mention though of Jr’s divorce, his girlfriend’s divorce from Gavin Newsom, or The Best Christian Ever screwing a porn star while his third wife was pregnant.”

When a commenter noted that Ellis had “turned quick,” Ellis demanded, “What’s not true in my post? Go ahead, I’ll wait.”

Everything Ellis mentioned in her tweet is true, and it was true even before she agreed to the plea deal. The difference, though, is that Ellis was not personally implicated in Trump’s multiple lawsuits until now.

Leaked video of Ellis’s testimony shows her providing incredibly damaging information to the Fulton County investigators. She describes how senior Trump aide Dan Scavino told her during the 2020 White House Christmas party that “the boss” intended to simply stay in office. Ellis explained that everyone knew “the boss” meant Trump.

Ellis said she pointed out that Trump had lost the election and they had lost all of their attempts to challenge the result in court. Scavino replied, “Well, we don’t care, and we’re not going to leave.”

Trump was charged with felony racketeering in Georgia for trying to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. He pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges. A big part of his defense is that he truly believed he won the election and was acting based on legal advice. Ellis’s testimony could prove to be his undoing.

A Palestinian student advocacy group is taking to the legal system to fight back against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s efforts to kick them off student campuses.

On Thursday, the University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine announced that it is suing DeSantis, Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, University of Florida President Ben Sasse, and other university leaders for “violating their [First] Amendment rights,” according to a statement by the nonprofit Palestine Legal.

The lawsuit, filed by Palestine Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union, stems from an unusual action taken by the state government last month, in which Rodrigues issued a letter calling for all chapters of the pro-Palestine group to be “deactivated,” claiming that they were providing “material support” to a “terrorist organization.”

Florida State’s chapter, however, argues that it has little to do with the national group or the statements it makes, according to the lawsuit.

SJP has just two chapters left in all of Florida: Florida State University and the University of North Florida.

“As students on a public college campus, we have every right to engage in human rights advocacy,” said Florida State’s chapter in a statement. “We know we have First Amendment rights in school and we’re bringing this lawsuit to make sure the government doesn’t silence us or others like us.”

Florida’s suppression of the local chapter is part of a larger national crackdown on the Palestinian advocacy group. Last month, the Anti-Defamation League and the Brandeis Center, both Jewish nonprofits, issued letters to nearly 200 university presidents across the country calling for an investigation into Students for Justice in Palestine.

Meanwhile, DeSantis has made his own stance on the protests abundantly clear.

On November 8, at the GOP presidential debate in Miami, DeSantis bragged that he had “deactivated” the group.

“We’re not gonna use tax dollars to fund jihad,” he said.

DeSantis also used the platform to openly threaten international students here on visas.

“If you are here on a student visa as a foreign national, and you’re making common cause with Hamas, I’m canceling your visa and I’m sending you home, no questions asked,” said DeSantis.

“Local chapters of student groups cannot be punished for their association with national organizations—nor can the government selectively punish and censor student groups for engaging in speech it doesn’t like or agree with,” said Palestine Legal.