Trump showed up for his court date in New York City today, surprising some. During his last civil case in New York, where E. Jean Carroll sued him for sexual assault and defamation, he never entered the courtroom.
This time, Trump may think he can outsmart the judge and the prosecution in the civil fraud case brought against him by District Attorney Leticia James. He can't.
He's already starting on the wrong foot. At one point, Trump stood directly behind DA James and leaned over her as if to intimidate her — not unlike his attempts to intimidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election debate. James laughed it off. Good for her.
Trump is on the witness list
Trump is on the witness list for this trial. As are his sons, Don Jr. and Eric. But so far, all of Trump's comments have been aimed at the cameras outside the courtroom. True to form, as soon as the court broke for lunch, Trump took the opportunity to spew his usual nonsense for the eager reporters waiting outside.
He called the trial "a scam" and said it was "a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time." But Trump's rhetoric has lost its impact given that he's already used that tired claim during his impeachments (both of them), the Mar-a-Lago case, and the Georgia case.
Trump also said the judge in this case "should be disbarred" and claimed that DA James was politically motivated. As usual, no evidence to support his claims was given.
Interestingly, Trump did not have many supporters outside the courtroom today to cheer him on. Nor were there any rabid Trump lackeys brandishing weapons to fight for Trump's cause. Much like the crowd at Trump's first indictment, there was only a handful of people carrying signs. One showed Trump behind bars — another said, "Tick Tock Times [sic] Up!"
All in all, the beginning of his first federal trial has been uneventful. Opening statements by the defense attempted to persuade the judge (there is no jury in this case) that the valuations made on Trump's various holdings were accurate despite differing significantly from their value according to everyone else. The defense argued that Trump's valuations were not lies or fabrications because they were based on "what people were willing to pay."
In Trump's world, comparisons to similar properties are not considered relevant to the value of his property. In Trump's world, if a Saudi prince would pay an exorbitant price for something, that's what it's worth. Forget market comparisons, the location of the property, and the square footage — those are meaningless facts. In Trump’s world, it’s what Trump can get for the properties that determine their "real" value.
The problem Trump has now is that the judge already ruled that he and his boys committed fraud by over- or under-valuing property depending on what best fit Trump's needs at the time. So now Trump's attorneys are trying to say the judge is wrong — which probably won't go over very well since the same judge will be making the final ruling here.
Will Trump testify?
So far, every pundit in America has weighed in on the issue of Trump testifying, and all of them have said he won't — except me. I've always believed Trump would insist on it because I'm familiar with his particular brand of mental illness.
Trump is a man who can't be outsmarted — at least in his addled mind. He believes that he is a genius. He believes this because, when he has made absurd claims throughout his life, nobody ever called him on it. He isn't smart enough or self-aware enough to understand that people let him get away with behaving badly because they either believe his lies, fear his threats or believe their support will allow them to reap financial rewards. None of the adoration and support he's managed to enjoy is based on who he is.
Trump also believes his past job as president is proof of his superior intelligence and capabilities. It isn't. It only proves how desperate the Republican party was for someone they thought was "a winner."
Trump's fatal argument
When Trump takes the stand, there is no way of knowing what he'll say. However, we do have a hint from today's proceedings. His lawyers are arguing that Trump is a real estate genius; therefore, he can better evaluate real estate using his extraordinary brain than lesser beings who would be required to use standardized formulas for valuation purposes. (Seriously, this is their argument.)
Trump's defense is based on the fact that he can jack up the price of anything he owns and find an oligarch or Saudi royal who will pay whatever price he asks. The problem with that argument is the reason this is true.
If Russian oligarchs and Saudi princes will pay whatever Trump asks, it's not because his ability to assess the value of real estate is so keen; it's because when laundering money, you need to buy stuff from people who won't look too closely at the particulars of the transaction. Money launderers are also not picky about fair market values — the goal is to get the money to a legitimate place —if you lose some in the process, that's just the cost of doing business.
Once the prosecution gets Trump on the stand, they will direct the conversation. When Trump brags about the high prices Trump and Trump alone can command for his real estate investments, there are bound to be questions.
This may become evidence supporting a potential new charge: money laundering. Perhaps we'll even see a fifth indictment.
Wouldn't that be perfect?