The Real Goal of Trump's Indignant Testimony
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Donald Trump took the stand in his civil trial in New York this week, maybe he wasn’t trying to convince the judge who will decide this case—maybe he was playing for the MAGA audience outside, who will be headed to the polls in a year.
Guest: Barbara McQuade, law professor at the University of Michigan and a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We are six weeks into the first of Donald Trump's trials. His adult children have testified, the former president has testified. |
| 0:21.0 | The prosecution is resting and now his defense is up to bat. |
| 0:25.0 | Trump has four high-profile criminal cases coming up, |
| 0:28.0 | but this trial is a civil one. |
| 0:31.0 | New York Attorney General Leticia James says Trump and his adult sons |
| 0:34.8 | inflated the value of their properties to lenders and insurance companies. |
| 0:39.0 | That's fraud and not just a little fraud. |
| 0:42.0 | The claims are that they fraud and not just a little fraud. |
| 0:43.0 | The claims are that they inflated these assets wildly, sometimes to a factor of 23. |
| 0:51.0 | Barbara McQuaid is a law professor at the University of Michigan and a former US |
| 0:56.7 | attorney for Michigan's Eastern District. This is as Attorney General |
| 1:01.2 | Letitia James has said really largely a document's case. |
| 1:05.3 | On the one hand you see what these properties are worth and then you see representations |
| 1:10.7 | to lenders and insurers describing those values at much higher numbers. |
| 1:16.8 | But the testimony is important because it helps to understand how those discrepancies |
| 1:21.8 | arose. |
| 1:22.9 | The testimonies. |
| 1:24.6 | Prosecutors question Trump's sons, Don Jr. and Eric, |
| 1:28.3 | co-defendants in the case. |
| 1:30.1 | Avanka Trump also testified, |
| 1:32.2 | though she's legally off the hook since she left the family business in 2017. |
| 1:37.0 | But the most explosive testimony came from their father, the former president. |
... |
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