Politics - News Analysis

Don Jr. Thought He Pulled a Fast One on the Court and He Failed Miserably: Legal Expert

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin sat through two days of Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony in the $250 million financial fraud lawsuit and argued on Morning Joe that if Trump Jr. thinks he did well, he’s got another thing coming, Raw Story reports.

Discussing the trial with co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist, Rubin said Don Jr. seems to believe he did well, but in reality, his testimony was “damning” to the Trump Organization’s defense against the civil suit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

It can be said that Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the trial, does NOT suffer fools gladly and Rubin said the good Judge easily saw through Junior’s attempts to spread the blame around to others for committing financial fraud.

Geist asked her what she saw in the courtroom, and her response was telling.

“Willie, I’ll say this again, every day in court on this matter is like a roller coaster and certainly yesterday was no exception.”

“The examination of Donald Trump Jr. was one that seemed really calm and placid on the surface but was really damning if you think about what they got him to admit,” Rubin explained. “The fact that it was relatively pleasant in terms of the exchange with him and the attorney general’s lawyer doesn’t disguise the fact that Donald Trump Jr., who his father famously refers to as ‘a kid’ in order to infantilize him, was actually the co-trustee of what effectively was the Trump Organization for the entirety of the presidency.”

She noted this is worse than it appears.

“And in that capacity he not only signed financial statements over to banks and lenders, he certified that that information was true and accurate,” she explained, “and he did that to Deutsche Bank repeatedly. He also did that to Mazars, his accountants.”

“Donald Trump Jr. wants everybody to think he got a fast one over on people by saying, “Oh, God, what did I do? I relied on accountants to do accounting,” Rubin continued. “The problem is, when you are a fiduciary, and when you’re a trustee, you don’t get to pass that buck. The buck stops with you. Donald Trump Jr., who has outsourced everything in his life, wasn’t willing to concede that.”

So perhaps Junior has f*cked around and is about to find out. Hopefully, that’s the case for Dad and Eric too.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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