FILE – Former President Donald Trump speaks during a break in his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Oct. 25, 2023, in New York. The Donald Trump who testifies at a New York civil trial on Monday may be more subdued than the version often seen in campaign rallies.
The testy exchanges underscored Trump’s unwillingness to adapt his famously freewheeling rhetorical style to a formal courtroom setting governed by rules of evidence and legal protocol.
Though the fraud case doesn’t carry the prospect of prison as the criminal prosecutions do, its allegations of financial improprieties cut to the heart of the brand he spent decades crafting, and the suggestion that Trump is worth less than he’s claimed has been interpreted by him as a cutting insult.
Tensions between Engoron and Trump, already on display in recent weeks, when the judge fined him a total of $15,000 for incendiary outside-of-court comments, were evident Monday when the ex-president was repeatedly scolded about the length and content of his answers. “I do not want to hear everything this witness has to say. He has a lot to say that has nothing to do with the case or the questions.”
Of Engoron, Trump said, “He ruled against me and he said I was a fraud before he knew anything about me.”