Mary Trump, the niece of former President Donald Trump, recently criticized her uncle for spending a substantial amount on expert witnesses in his New York civil fraud trial, which she argues backfired. In a Substack article, Mary, a psychologist, revealed that Donald Trump’s expert witnesses were paid hourly rates up to $1,595, totaling approximately $2.45 million, much of which came from his Save America PAC.
Mary Trump highlighted two significant issues with this expenditure. Firstly, there’s a potential that Donald Trump might have to repay all these funds if the Federal Election Commission deems the use of campaign funds for this purpose inappropriate.
More importantly, she suggests that this investment may have inadvertently aided New York Attorney General Letitia James in building a stronger case against him, as reported by Raw Story. In the ongoing trial, where Donald Trump is accused of inflating the value of his assets to secure favorable loans for the Trump Organization, he reportedly spent over $2 million on expert witnesses to defend his position.
However, Judge Engoron, overseeing the trial, expressed skepticism about the credibility of these witnesses. On December 18, Engoron noted that one expert, who received almost $1 million, lost credibility by staunchly defending Trump’s business records, according to ABC News.
Mary Trump pointed out that one of Donald Trump’s witnesses, an accounting professor, conceded that Trump’s financial statement was neither proper nor reasonable. This admission reportedly bolstered the Attorney General’s case. Professor Eli Bartov of New York University, testifying on December 7, stated he found no evidence of fraud in Trump’s financial records and praised their detail and transparency, as per Reuters.
However, his testimony was met with skepticism by Judge Engoron, who dismissed Trump’s demands for a favorable ruling and acknowledged the defense’s argument about the subjectivity of property values. Despite this, Engoron highlighted that Trump’s statements contained material misstatements.