Donald Trump took the stand on Monday in his civil fraud trial in a Manhattan courtroom.
But because television cameras were not allowed inside, the public was only given a filtered look at the proceedings, through the eyes of journalists whose takes varied considerably. Without the ability to record audio, reporters were unable to capture longer passages and exchanges.
Precisely what went on in that courthouse should not be shrouded in mystery. So I tracked down the court reporter working that day, and purchased from her the full transcript. (I raised the money to do so through a GoFundMe. Thank you to all who contributed!)
And now I’m making it public, for all to see. Feel free to download and repost.
You can also find a text version here.
(To learn more about Press Watch, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving political reporting, read this.)
So Kise thinks his client deserves “latitude” because he’s “a former president of the United States,” as though Trump is above the law. Good grief, is that the only defense he has? I’m getting that impression. Trump apparently was mor interested in boasting about how much he thinks his properties are worth than what he is charged with, which is basically, fraudulently claiming they were worth far less than their actual value so that he could cheat on his taxes, defrauding the rest of NY’s taxpayers who aren’t such deadbeats. And then he bloated the properties’ worth so that he could use them as collateral to borrow millions and thereby defraud the banks. He thinks it’s clever because his daddy did it before him.
Thank you!