TheLittleTwentieth – Renowned Papers Edition, AI Infused

Local sources from United States: The New York Times, CNN.
UK coverage: BBC.

The trial involving former President Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, began with arguments about the judge’s clerk and ended with a feud between Trump’s legal team and Judge Engoron regarding the clerk. The tension in the courtroom overshadowed Eric Trump’s testimony, which focused on the Trump Organization’s annual financial statements. The former president is scheduled to take the stand on Monday.

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the two adult sons of former President Donald Trump, appeared in court on Thursday and Friday to testify in the civil fraud trial against their father and the Trump Organization. Donald Trump Jr. testified that he relied on the Trump Organization’s accountants and legal teams to certify his father’s financial statements, while Eric Trump acknowledged providing information to the former Trump Organization controller, Jeff McConney.

The New York Attorney General’s office argued that Donald Trump’s financial statements were filled with fraudulent misrepresentations and that the Trump Organization saved $168 million thanks to the loan rates obtained with the help of these false documents. The attorney general’s office also pressed Eric Trump about his understanding of his father’s financial statements and confronted him with a series of emails dating back to 2010.

Donald Trump’s legal team repeatedly attacked a law clerk during the trial, prompting the judge to bar the lawyers from making public statements about his private communications with his staff. The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, works closely with the clerk, Allison Greenfield, and the two often speak and pass notes on the bench. The former president has taken issue with her involvement in the monthlong trial — Ms. Greenfield is a Democrat and Mr. Trump believes she is biased against him — and his lawyers have complained about her regularly.

Donald J. Trump has twice violated a gag order by attacking Ms. Greenfield, incurring $15,000 worth of fines. Kevin Wallace, a lawyer for the New York attorney general’s office, said that the objections about Ms. Greenfield seemed designed to interrupt the attorney general’s case.

Donald Trump is expected to take the stand on Monday, and his daughter Ivanka Trump, who was a key part of the business before joining her father in the White House, is scheduled to testify Wednesday. For more analysis and a summary of the trial, click here.