Donald Trump Jr extols his father’s ‘artistry’ in real estate as he testifies again in family fraud trial – as it happened

Ever been to a gym in a hotel? Donald Trump Jr thinks you should thank his father, who was a pioneer in making things that are “commonplace today in luxury real estate”, like gyms.

“Maybe someone had put a gym in a building somewhere, but no one did it at the scale of my father,” Trump Jr said.

For anyone who has seen HBO’s Succession, Trump Jr’s testimony so far is starting to feel like “HBO Presents: Succession – Live!”

Multiple photos of Trump’s properties – including several that are in the center of the case, including Seven Springs in Westchester and 40 Wall Street – are being put on for the courtroom. Think shiny lobbies and ball rooms, apartments dotting the west side of a Manhattan. Donald Trump Jr is talking about how the company worked on “creating height and creating views”.

His father “sees the things that other people don’t,” Trump Jr said when asked about Seven Springs. “That is his canvas where he creates, and he’s a creative guy.”

When Trump Jr recalled real estate experts telling them the company that what they were doing with their properties was “genius”, prosecutors immediately objected for hearsay. Prosecutors are visibly whispering and laughing among each other, shaking their heads throughout this part of his testimony.

The picture that Trump Jr is painting of the Trump Organization is of a massive real estate company that changed the game of the industry.

“At the time that these were being build, you didn’t have projects like this being built,” he said of a property.

After more back-and-forth between prosecutors, who appear to be getting impatient with Trump Jr talking about the history of the company, judge Arthur Engoron overruled their objections.

“Let him go ahead and talk about how great the Trump Organization is,” he told them.

The courtroom is being treated to a history of the Trump Organization, with pictures. Donald Trump Jr said that his grandfather was the “son of immigrants” who eventually started doing garage and apartment develops in Queens.

“My father learned a lot of the business from him” but also saw Manhattan as “the ultimate frontier to do that”. Trump Jr said the his father “changed the skyline of New York” and exhibits a “Horatio Alger” story.

A picture of a young Trump with his father, Fred Trump, in Central Park, the New York skyline behind them, was put on in front of the court.

Prosecutor Andrew Amer jumped in saying that the defense team is going back into the early 1900s, “Is there a waiver for the statute of limitations?” he asked, garnering laughs from the courtroom.

Trump lawyer Clifford Roberts just put up what appears to be a slideshow presentation about the Trump Organization, including a first slide that is titled “The Trump Story”, stylized like a marketing presentation.

Prosecutor Colleen Faherty quickly raised an objection. “I don’t know what this document is. It appears to be a hearsay document,” she said.

Roberts replied saying that it is important for the court to understand the history of the Trump Organization given that the attorney general is threatening to put the company out of business.

“The court needs to understand where the company came from and where it’s going,” he said.

After back and forth with prosecutors and the defense, Engoron is letting the slideshow go into evidence, saying that he understands the “big-picture” purpose of the presentation.

Donald Trump Jr is still showering the Trump Organization with praise on the witness stand.

When talking about his father, Trump Jr just said, “My father has been good at finding value, doing something differently” and – this one was a bit jarring to hear in court – finding “sexiness within a real estate project”.

“He built some of the most incredible assets in the world,” Trump Jr said.

Note that Judge Arthur Engoron, sitting a few feet away from him, pretty much ended the Trump Organization’s ability to do business in New York with his pre-trial summary judgment, currently going through an appeals court.

Donald Trump Jr was asked by his lawyer Clifford Roberts about how the Trump Organization has been structured since 2021 (when Trump was booted from the White House, but that wasn’t mentioned).

Trump Jr emphasized that his father stepped away from the business during his presidency but said as of 2021, “he could get involved and he chooses to on certain things.”

He noted that he and brother Eric Trump are “much more responsible than prior to 2017”, noting that Eric is involved in the day-to-day operations and is the “big-picture deals guy”.

Judge Arthur Engoron asked Trump Jr to slow down when talking. Trump Jr cracked a joke during the exchange, telling the judge with a laugh: “I would say it’s good to be here, but I would assume the attorney general would sue me for perjury if I said that.”

Donald Trump Jr is back on the stand and is being questioned by Clifford Roberts, his lawyer who is also representing brother Eric Trump.

Right now, he’s listing off the Trump Organization’s early real estate achievements, building a handful of the “biggest” or “largest” properties in certain cities and praising his father’s business sense.

“He gave opportunities to a lot of people who didn’t have [other] opportunities,” he said of his father.

Trump Jr is talking very quickly and excitedly. It’s worth noting that the broader questioning is by his lawyer, the more leeway prosecutors will get with cross-examination.

Judge Arthur Engoron walked in and very quickly after, he allowed photographers to take pictures of Donald Trump Jr with his lawyers. It feels very much like deja vu from the first time he took the stand.

“The defense team must be looking good today,” Engoron said, noting that the photographers took longer than usual.

When the defense team said Trump Jr’s name, calling him to the stand, Engoron said: “I would say ‘Who’s he?’ but I already made that joke.”

Donald Trump Jr just entered the courtroom with his defense team. Because he is a defendant on the case, he can enter the courtroom before being called on as a witness. (Typically, the witness must only enter when called.) The judge should be appearing soon as the court session starts at 10am.

Good morning, I’m in the courtroom of Donald Trump’s New York fraud trial. We’re in the seventh week of the trial, and Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, is expected to take the witness stand for a second time, kicking off witnesses called by Trump’s defense team.

The last time he was on the stand, multiple documents were presented to Trump Jr where he signed off on the fairness and accuracy of the financial statements at the center of the case. But when asked to recall ever working or discussing them with other executives at the company, Trump Jr said the statements were largely left to the company’s accounting and legal departments.

Expect more of that line of argument today, along with Trump Jr being asked by his team about the relationships the Trump family had with banks. The defense is arguing that banks, particularly Deutsche Bank, who was a big lender to the Trump family, actively pursued relationships with the family and profited off the loans they gave to the Trump family.

And because the defense team is putting Trump Jr back on the stand, this also means that prosecutors will get a second chance to question Trump Jr about his role at the company in cross-examination. Depending on how long Trump’s lawyers take in questioning Trump Jr, cross-examination could start this afternoon.

We’ll be following the trial live. Stay tuned for updates.