Dan Mitchinson: Emails contradict Eric Trump’s evidence he was unaware of father’s financial statements

Eric Trump, one of two sons entrusted to run Donald Trump’s real estate empire, today swore he was never involved with or aware of financial statements that New York state lawyers say fraudulently puffed up the ex-president’s wealth and the worth of the family business.

But when a state lawyer pulled up decade-old emails in which a fellow Trump Organisation executive asked him for information needed to complete one of his dad’s financial statements, the irritated son strove to clarify.

“We’re a major organisation — yes, I’m fairly sure I understand that we have financial statements. Absolutely,” Eric Trump said. But, he insisted: “I had no involvement and never worked on my father’s statement of financial condition.”

Later, when told another Trump Organisation figure gave evidence about him being on a video call about his father’s financial statement as recently as 2021, Eric Trump said he could not remember.

“I’m on a thousand calls a day,” he said.

Eric Trump followed brother Donald Trump Jr in giving evidence at the family’s New York civil fraud trial, a prelude to their father’s scheduled evidence on Tuesday. Both sons are Trump Organisation executive vice presidents.

As court adjourned, with Eric Trump watching from the witness stand, the judge laid into the defence for dragging his law clerk into their complaints about his handling of the trial.

The clerk was the target of a false and disparaging Trump social media post early in the trial, leading Engoron to impose a gag order barring parties in the case from smearing court staff.

Engoron, raising his voice at times, raised the possibility of expanding the gag order but took no action. The judge said he suspected “a bit of misogyny” toward the clerk, who sits alongside him. Trump’s lawyers denied the allegation.

Trump lawyer Christopher Kise sparked Engoron’s fury by calling out the clerk for passing notes to the judge. He said: “I feel like I’m fighting two adversaries” and said the defence team perceived there was “co-judging taking place.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Donald Trump, his company and top executives including Eric and Donald Jr, accusing them of inflating the ex-president’s net worth on annual financial statements that were given to banks, insurers and others to secure loans and make deals.

The former president and other defendants deny wrongdoing.

Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, reiterated on his Truth Social platform that he sees the trial as “RIGGED,” a “Miscarriage of Justice,” and “Election Interference.” James and the judge who will decide the case, Arthur Engoron, are Democrats.

“The Trump Organisation is Financially Strong, Powerful, Very Liquid, AND HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG,” Trump wrote.

Eric Trump, as he started his evidence, said he “never had anything to do with the statement of financial condition,” didn’t believe he’d ever seen one and “didn’t know anything about it, really, until this case came into fruition.”

“It’s not what I did for the company,” said the son, who has insisted his interests lie mainly in “pouring concrete” — constructing and operating properties. He said that while he knew the company had financial documents, he “was not personally aware of the statement of financial condition”.

State lawyer Andrew Amer then showed him 2013 emails from then-Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney. He explained to Eric Trump, then in a different role at the company, that he was “working on your father’s statement of financial condition” and needed information on one of the company’s properties.

Eric Trump, second from left, appears at the fraud trial for his father, former Preside