Final arguments have begun in the civil fraud case against Donald Trump and his company, which could cost the former president up to $370 million and bar him from working in the New York real estate industry in which he became famous, reported. NBC.
Speaking to reporters on his way to the courtroom, Trump denied any wrongdoing and called the case "election interference at the highest level." He stated that he had hoped to speak during the closing of the case to help the lawyers expose all the defects of this case.
Also in the courtroom was New York Attorney General Leticia James, whose office filed the lawsuit alleging the former president and his company engaged in fraud by inflating the value of their assets and properties in financial documents covering more than a decade.
Trump's attorney Chris Keyes spoke first and said that during the 44 days of testimony in the case, "not one witness has said there was fraud or identified a material error" in Trump's financial statements, a claim that the office of the Attorney General will certainly challenge in his closing argument.
Keyes later said there was one witness who testified that Trump knew he was committing fraud — his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. But Keyes described him as a "serial liar".
"He makes up a story based on something he's comfortable with," Keys said of Cohen. "He hates President Trump and makes money defaming him. What better reason to come here and create lies and get media attention for his blogs."
The current lawyer for the Republican presidential candidate also said that Trump's net worth is higher than indicated in the financial documents, which are disputed by prosecutors, and that he relied on his accountants for the information in the documents. Keyes also minimized the overall significance of the financial statements, saying they had no bearing on the favorable interest rates the former president was able to get from the banks he borrowed from. He said that the banks knew Trump and "rolled out a red carpet" for him./BGNES