Day 4 highlights: Ex-Trump executive grilled in court as former president skips

The court day is now over. While we listened to testimony about accounting issues, a bigger-picture theme in the Trump legal world emerged.

Today, Trump not only filed a motion to dismiss the Washington, D.C., election interference case on presidential immunity grounds, but he also moved to dismiss the Manhattan DA’s hush money case. In a reply brief filed last night, he also again requested that the judge in his classified documents case move the trial until after the election. And tomorrow morning, he is now expected to move for a stay of the New York AG trial pending an appeal of last week’s summary judgment decision.

In other words, Trump’s legal teams have made or shortly will make efforts to throw out or postpone four cases. And because of how the Georgia election interference case has proceeded, it's likely we won't see Trump on trial there for months either.

In a separate case, Trump’s attorneys in New York filed a motion to dismiss the criminal case against him charging that he used hush money payments paid by his personal attorney Michael Cohen to keep Stormy Daniels from going public during his 2016 presidential campaign. 

The 57-page document asking a New York State Supreme Court judge to throw out the case attacks Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case as a "discombobulated package of politically motivated charges marred by legal defects, procedural failures, discovery violations and a stubborn refusal to provide meaningful particulars regarding its theory of the case."

Trump's attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles go on to say: “The indictment was filed six years after the conduct at issue, more than four and a half years after DANY began to investigate it, and more than three years after they started presenting evidence to a grand jury, the delay has prejudiced President Trump, interfered with his ongoing presidential campaign and violated his due process rights.” 

Trump has pleaded not guilty and the trial is scheduled for March 2024 assuming it is not pre-empted by his Washington, D.C., election interference trial, which is also set for March 2024.

A spokesperson for the Manhattan DA says they will respond in court papers. Responses for defense motions are due Nov. 9.

Trump on Thursday argued in a court filing that he should be shielded from prosecution in the 2020 election interference case because of presidential immunity, claiming his efforts to overturn his election loss and remain in the White House were at “the heart of his official responsibilities as President.”

Describing what prosecutors allege was a conspiracy to disenfranchise American voters as “efforts to ensure election integrity,” Trump’s legal team argued that special counsel Jack Smith’s team had “falsely” claimed that “President Trump’s motives were impure — that he purportedly ‘knew’ that the widespread reports of fraud and election irregularities were untrue.” Trump’s legal team said that “hundreds of years of history and tradition” make clear that the president’s motivations are not for prosecutors or judges to decide.

Trump’s actions “are within the ambit of his office, and he is absolutely immune from prosecution,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the court filing, citing a 1982 Supreme Court decision that involved former President Richard Nixon.

Read the full story here.

Andrew Amer, a lawyer for the AG's office, asked McConney about the price of Trump's triplex, which was at one point valued at $180 million.

They showed McConney a 2012 email he sent to a Trump International Realty employee inquiring about the square footage and asking price of another apartment for purposes of informing his assessment of the triplex — what's known in the real estate world as a "comp."

The apartment in question was owned by a foreign royal or prince, McConney confirms. The employee in his 2012 email response pointed to an apartment at 240 Riverside Park with 14,500 square footage with an ask of $75 million and $5,000 per square foot. That same employee also said he valued Trump's triplex at between $120 million to $180 million based on it having 30,000 square footage.

McConney then used this information to value the triplex at $180 million.

The point the AG is driving at is that a 14,500 square-foot apartment overlooking the river was asking for $75 million and roughly $5,000 per square foot whereas the triplex — which James and Engoron have said is actually closer to 10,000 square feet — was assessed to be worth $180 million, and that could not have been compliant with standard accounting principles at any point. Why? Because no willing buyer would have paid anywhere close to $180 million in 2012 for the Trump Tower triplex.

The trial is back in session after a lunch break.

Trump’s lawyers argued with lawyers from the AG's office about the motion Trump's team plans to file for a stay pending their appeal. Trump's team said they have not filed yet, but plan to file in front of the First Department of the Appellate Division tomorrow. They are refusing to disclose the scope of the requested stay before Judge Engoron, insisting that the motion will be presented to the First Department, not the trial court.

Andrew Amer of the AG’s office insisted that he is entitled to a 24-hour notice and that the notice they provided — which does not reveal the scope — is defective. “It is not a question of satisfying me, but satisfying the rule,” Amer said.

McConney then returned to the stand.

C-SPAN joined other media organizations today in pushing for more media access in another of Trump's upcoming trials.

C-SPAN is urging for access to cameras in the courtroom for Trump's election interference case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Judge Tanya Chutkan has set a March 4, 2024, trial date.

A Democratic House member is asking Palm Beach County, Florida, to tax former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property at the rate he claims it is worth amid his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York.

In a letter provided exclusively to NBC News, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., issued the request to Dorothy Jacks, Palm Beach County property appraiser.

Moskowitz noted New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling last week saying that Trump repeatedly committed acts of fraud for years. Engoron ruled that Trump lied to banks and insurers by overvaluing and undervaluing his assets while exaggerating his net worth to billions of dollars. 

Trump has raged against Engoron’s ruling, insisting that his Florida resort is worth “50 to 100 times” what prosecutors in the New York civil case have said, or “closer to $1.5 billion.”

Read the full story here.

The trial has been adjourned for a lunch break. McConney is scheduled to resume testifying at 2:15 p.m. ET.

McConney testified that he and then-CFO Allen Weisselberg reviewed the final version of the financial compilations and that once Weisselberg signed off, he would notify their accounting company, Mazars.

But he acknowledged that, through his own handwritten notation, he amended Mazars’ issuance letters to indicate Trump himself was entitled to a final review of the compilation of statements of financial condition.

McConney distanced himself from whatever review Trump did or did not do, saying what happened before Weisselberg’s signoff was not within his knowledge, but he could not escape having to confirm that the letters were amended to make clear Trump was entitled to a final review.

In addition, the AG's office showed McConney a list of Trump Org properties with listed values that he marked up the following year with new values. He said that for many years, he marked up the spreadsheets used for backup to the compilations; other times, he just made handwritten notations on the one-page list of properties and sent that back to Mazars.

McConney, who's also a defendant in the case, was then shown letters he sent to a lender to disclose the statements of financial condition to Royal Bank America. That letter and others like it are part of how the AG will attempt to establish McConney’s liability for false financial statements, in addition to his involvement in preparing the statements themselves.

After some brief re-direct, Bender is done testifying and the AG's office has called its second witness, former Trump Organization senior vice president Jeff McConney.

McConney testified that he retired earlier this year and was given a severance package of $500,000, $125,000 of which is still outstanding but not contingent on anything other than his “being alive.”

He quickly pointed the finger at Bender's accounting firm for the financial statements the AG says were grossly inflated.

“We, being the Trump Organization, did not prepare the statements. Mazars, as our accountant, did,” he said.

McConney was the first witness for the Manhattan DA's office in the criminal trial against the Trump Organization last year and coughed excessively when he got on the stand. He then tested positive for Covid, which halted the trial for several days.

He's not coughing today.

Another attorney for Trump's side, Cliff Robert, grilled Bender about the number of times he's testified that he can't remember something since he first took the stand on Monday.

"Over the last few days, you have said 'I don’t recall' or 'I don’t remember' over 90 times?" Robert asked. "I believe that’s right," Bender answered. 

He then pressed him on his dealings with Jeff McConney, a senior VP at the Trump Organization with whom Bender worked closely.

Robert focused on Bender's testimony that he asked McConney for property appraisals that were never turned over.

"You don’t remember what you said to Mr. McConney?" Robert asked. "No I don’t remember," Bender said. "Did you send emails about it?" Robert continued. "I don’t recall," Bender said. 

"You don’t recall emails, but you do recall you asked him for it. You don’t know what you asked Jeff McConney for, do you?" Robert said. "Yes I do," Bender replied.

Commenting on the specificity of Robert's queries, the judge quipped that it was beginning to sound like Bill Clinton being questioned about "what the definition of 'is' is."

Suarez is questioning Bender about his interactions with the Manhattan DA’s office.

Bender, who testified in DA Alvin Bragg's criminal case against the Trump Organization last year, said that he was not threatened with prosecution and that his company Mazars was not either, to the best of his knowledge.

Suarez asked why Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in the DA's case, said in his book that Mazars has sent Bender in to meet with them without his own counsel and told Mazars it was in a precarious legal position. Bender said he was “satisfied” with his legal representation and was not aware of that conversation between Pomerantz and Mazars. 

Suarez also tried to insinuate that Mazars tried to make Bender the fall guy by sending him in to meet with the DA with only the counsel for Mazars. (Counsel for the company would owe duties to the company alone and is supposed to warn individual employees or former employees that in the event of a conflict, their duties are to the company.)

Bender was called by the defense in the Trump Organization tax fraud trial last year and spent three days on the stand as their lawyers suggested he had failed to alert the Trumps to the scam.

Outside the courthouse, protesters are heard yelling "pay 9-1-1." The protesters, who are also carrying signs, are 911 dispatchers demanding pay raises.

During his questioning of Bender, Trump's lawyer asked Bender if he ever consulted with Donald Trump Jr. or Ivanka Trump, the former president’s children, about the financial statements that the AG contends were grossly inflated.

"Not that I recall," he said of both.

Trump Jr. is a Trump Organization executive and a defendant in the case and was responsible for filing some of the statements after his father was elected president. Ivanka Trump is a former Trump Organization executive and was originally a defendant in the case, but an appeals court dismissed the AG's claims against her on statute of limitations issues.

Kevin Wallace, the lead lawyer on the AG’s case, objected after Trump lawyer Jesus Suarez began to ask Bender about financial statements year by year, despite getting similar answers each time.

Engoron then asked how long this would take. Suarez said he thinks he will finish his cross-examination of Bender in the next hour and a half.

Wallace again objected, prompting Engoron to say that, in his discretion, he will give an hour and a half but “if you want you can finish earlier.”

As the trial proceeds in court, Judge Engoron issued a ruling to make sure the former president and other defendants in the case are complying with his order last week canceling their New York business certificates.

The judge formally extended the deadline for Trump's team and the AG's office to submit suggestions for an independent receiver to oversee the dissolution of the companies by Oct. 26. He also directed the Trump team to turn over a full list of those companies, and to inform the monitor already overseeing the Trump Organization's financial transactions about any third parties who have ownership interests.

The order also directs Trump's team to inform the monitor in advance of any applications for new business certificates and any transfer of assets.

The judge's summary judgment ruling last week found that Trump and his companies had committed repeated fraud, and canceled business certificates for LLCs "controlled or beneficially owned" by Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and two Trump Organization executives. It originally gave the parties 10 days to name a potential receiver, but Engoron extended the deadline at the request of Trump's lawyers. Trump filed a notice Wednesday that he's appealing the ruling.

Readers will notice that Trump is not in court today after attending the previous three days of the trial. After abruptly departing the courthouse yesterday, Trump flew to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Donald Bender, Trump’s longtime accountant, enters to take the stand for a third day of his testimony.

Trump's lawyer Jesus Suarez will continue with his lengthy cross-examination, which was interrupted yesterday as the court heard from another Trump accountant, Camron Harris.

Bender says he did not discuss his testimony with anyone last night. 

Judge Engoron welcomes back everyone. He asks if anyone in the gallery has a birthday today after they celebrated AG lawyer Kevin Wallace's birthday yesterday. He seems to be in a good mood mentioning his law clerk's view of his sense of humor.

Engoron then calls for a sidebar to discuss housekeeping matters.

The fourth day of Trump's fraud trial has begun.

Judge Engoron has entered and taken the bench.

Trump's lawyers walked into the courthouse without their client. Trump isn't expected to appear in court today.

James in her usual spot, the first seat in front row.

In a motion filed late last night, Trump’s lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to delay his classified documents trial until after the 2024 presidential election. The trial is currently scheduled for May 20, 2024 in Florida.

Trump's lawyers argued that the delay is needed due to scheduling conflicts from the former president’s other legal challenges, including his election interference case in federal court scheduled to begin in March. One of his lawyers in the classified documents case, Chris Kise, is also defending Trump in his ongoing civil fraud trial. 

Trump’s lawyers also claimed that there have been delays in obtaining and reviewing the classified records that special counsel Jack Smith pointed to in his indictment.

“The Special Counsel’s Office has not provided some of the most basic discovery in the case,” the motion from Kise and another Trump attorney, Todd Blanche, said. “Given the current schedule, we cannot understate the prejudice to President Trump arising from his lack of access to these critical materials months after they should have been produced.”

Reached by NBC News for comment, the special counsel’s office declined to provide comment beyond its filing on the matter last week. Prosecutors representing the special counsel’s office argued that Trump’s legal team is seeking unreasonable delays in the classified documents case and that they falsely accused the government of delaying the production of evidence.

Trump is not expected to be in court for today's proceedings after attending the first three days of the trial.

The former president, who had no legal obligation to attend the trial, left the Manhattan courthouse during a lunch break yesterday, noticeably angry. He said at the time that he'd attended the opening days of the trial because he wanted to draw attention to “how corrupt it is.”

Trump continued his screeds slamming James, Engoron and the trial itself in posts to his Truth Social platform this morning.

Trump again suggested that the trial is an attempt to interfere with his presidential campaign and complained about the lack of a jury in the trial.

“This is sooo bad for New York. HELP!” Trump wrote in a post.

Trump's attorneys will continue to cross-examine his former accountant Donald Bender today.

That questioning could continue for much of the day, one of Trump's attorneys said yesterday.

Another witness, Jeff McConney, who serves as a top executive at the Trump Organization, is prepared to take the stand in case Bender's cross-examination ends earlier than expected.

On Day 3 of the trial, Trump’s lawyers sought to undermine the credibility of Donald Bender, a former accountant for Trump, prompting a heated exchange between defense attorney Chris Kise and Judge Arthur Engoron.

Bender admitted that he didn't dispute valuations of individual assets and also said he didn't recall noticing any failure to disclose the methods used to value those assets, contrary to industry guidelines.

A second accountant, Camron Harris, said in his testimony that the Trump family and their company, the Trump Organization, are responsible for their own financial statements.

Trump who attended the trial for a third straight day again railed against the court proceedings, calling them a “disgrace” and a “witch hunt.”