Trump could be back in NYC court next week as civil fraud trial against him continues
Donald Trump may be back in a Lower Manhattan courtroom again next week to face down his former personal lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen, who is expected to testify in the $250 million fraud case against the ex-president, sources said Thursday.
Trump, 77, attended three days of trial last week as New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case kicked off against him.
A source with knowledge of the proceedings told The Post that the former president may show up to the Manhattan Supreme Courthouse again next week.
Trump is not required to attend as he would be in a criminal trial — such as the ones he faces in separate cases in the coming year.
The 45th president may come for multiple days starting on Tuesday, sources told ABC News, the same day Cohen is slated to take the witness stand.
Meanwhile, the eighth day of trial Thursday featured more testimony from retired Deutsche Bank risk manager Nicholas Haigh, who confirmed under questioning from Trump’s lawyer Clifford Robert that the $378 million the bank loaned to the Trump Organization was a good credit decision, the outlet reported.
As Haigh was being cross-examined, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social, posting a photo of a carved glass trophy of the Old Post Office building in Washington, DC — which he developed into the Trump International Hotel — given to him by the bank.
“This Trophy was given to me by Deutsche Bank because they were so proud of the Loan they made,” he posted. “They had the best Lawyers, the smartest Loan Officers, and were thrilled to do business with ‘TRUMP.’”
The post went on to say that he paid his loans back in full ahead of schedule and never missed a payment.
At one point during Trump lawyer Jesus Suarez’s questioning of Haigh, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron snapped, “We can all read,” the outlet reported.
Suarez had been painstakingly going through credit reports for Trump’s loans with the bank year by year.
Engoron called the questioning “redundant” and “obvious.”
“I don’t know why we are spending so much time on this,” the judge said.
After Haigh’s testimony wrapped, former Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg — who took the witness stand on Tuesday but paused to accommodate Haigh’s schedule — wrapped up his testimony on Thursday afternoon.
The former longtime exec — who served a brief jail stint after copping to tax fraud for failing to report more than $1.7 million in income — said that the day before he was sentenced in the criminal case, he penned an agreement with the Trump Org for a $2 million severance package, ABC News reported.
“Is it just a coincidence that under this severance agreement, you are being paid $2 million, which is coincidentally the exact amount you were ordered to pay under your guilty plea?” attorney general lawyer Louis Solomon asked Weisselberg.
“Coincidence,” he responded.
Solomon asked the longtime Trump lieutenant about a clause in the severance agreement specifying that he couldn’t voluntarily cooperate in a probe against the real estate company or Trump.
Weisselberg said he “didn’t give [the clause] a lot of thought, to be honest.”
The finance chief also said that Trump’s three oldest kids, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., all “wanted to get up to speed on how the business was running,” especially when it came time for them to step in and fill their dad’s role at the top during his candidacy for president.
Trump’s lawyers didn’t cross-examine Weisselberg. Another former Trump Org employee, Patrick Birney, was called to the witness stand after Weisselberg.
James’ case alleges that for a decade, Trump exaggerated his net worth by over $3 billion a year for better loan and insurance terms and to climb Forbes’ list of billionaires.
The trial, which is being decided by a judge rather than a jury, is expected to last through December.
