Donald Trump returns to New York to continue the civil fraud trial against him

NY– The ex-president donald trump will return to court next Tuesday in New York City where the civil trial for fraud that could disrupt his real estate empire follows.

Trump attended the first three days of the trial between October 2 and 4. He turned his appearance into a campaign event, complaining about the process in front of television cameras in the hallway outside the courtroom every chance he got.

His appearance this time was going to coincide with that of Michael Cohen, who was previously his lawyer and is now his adversary. But Cohen’s attendance was delayed until at least next week.

Cohen said Monday on X (formerly Twitter) that he is not avoiding Trump but rather suffers from an “extremely painful” health condition. However, he added that he anticipates testifying as soon as the pain subsides.

“I am sure that when I testify, Donald will be present, sitting with his lawyers at the defendant’s table”Cohen wrote.

The lawsuit, filed by the New York State Attorney General, Letitia Jamesaccuses Trump and his company of lying on financial statements to banks, insurance companies and others by inflating the value of their assets to obtain financing.

Trump denies having committed any illegality, says that his assets have rather been undervalued and maintains that the balance sheets had notices warning banks and other institutions that they should better review the figures on their own.

The attorney general began investigating Trump in 2019 after Cohen testified before the Congress that the billionaire politician has a history of lying about the value of his assets to obtain favorable loans and tax breaks.

Instead of Cohen, Trump’s appearance will likely coincide with that of his company’s assistant accountant, Donna Kidder. It is also expected that the prosecution will call on Tuesday to testify Jack Weisselberg, son of the Trump Organization’s former accountant, Allen Weisselberg. The son orchestrated the financing for Trump when he was an executive at Ladder Capital.