11:23 am ET, November 13, 2023
Judge sides with Trump lawyers and allows extended testimony on Trump arc history
From CNN’s Lauren del Valle, Kara Scannell and Jeremy Herb
Michael M. Santiago/Pool/Getty Images
Judge Arthur Engoron sided with Donald Trump’s lawyers, rejecting an objection by the New York attorney general’s office to admit a PowerPoint presentation showing the history of the Trump Organization.
Donald Trump Jr. walked through the history of the company, which he says built hotels for miners during the gold rush in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
Titled “The Trump Story,” the presentation includes photographs of Donald Trump with his father, Fred Trump, and exquisite photographs of various Trump buildings.
The PowerPoint covered Trump’s 1985 purchase of Mar-a-Lago, which Trump Jr. described as “one of the few American palaces.”
“Since we’ve gone back to the early 1900s, is there any exemption to the statute of limitations?” Andrew Amar, a lawyer with the attorney general, laughed.
Assistant Attorney General Kevin Wallace objected to the presentation, saying the textual explanations could have coached the witness.
But Engoron allowed the presentation.
“Give you six weeks and you’re going to get me in trouble with Mr (Chris) Kiss – he’ll say I always rule against him,” Nkoron said. “No these things don’t come in.”
“I find it interesting, too,” Nkoron said. “Objection overruled. Let him talk about how great the Trump Organization is.”
More context: The judge agreed with the argument after weeks of overruling objections from Trump’s lawyers during the attorney general’s presentation. But in the past few days, Engoron has sided with Trump’s team, saying last week that he would allow their experts to testify because he doesn’t want a retrial and reversal.
The judge also sided with Trump’s attorneys during the hearing, but this indicates that the judge is going to give both sides a lot of concessions in their presentation.
