Donald Trump Jr. took the witness stand Wednesday in the civil fraud trial over whether his father overstated his wealth to banks and insurers, a case that threatens the former president

Donald

Trump’s real estate empire.

The first family member to testify, Donald Trump Jr., greeted the scene with a joke: I should have worn makeup, he said as news photographers took his photo.

He felt comfortable and seemed at ease when a New York State attorney asked him some opening questions about his education and career at the family business, the Trump Organization. He made some light-hearted comments. When asked whether he was with an accounting firm, he replied: Sounds very exciting, but no.

But as executive vice president of the Trump Organization, he has taken serious care to say he is not an accountant or an expert on accounting standards cited in the case. The lawsuit centers on whether Trump Sr. and his company deceived banks and insurers by inflating his net worth in financial statements.

I rely on professionals and CPAs on certain matters, Trump Jr. said.

The Trumps deny wrongdoing and are fighting to keep the company intact.

The ex-president’s eldest son begins a blockbuster journey as the trial in New York Atty. The trial of General Letitia James enters its second month.

James, a Democrat, alleges that Donald Trump, his company and top executives, including sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., conspired to overstate his wealth by billions of dollars based on financial statements given to banks, insurers and others to secure loans and make agreements.

Eric Trump is expected to take the stand next. The former president, family patriarch and 2024 Republican presidential candidate

in polls among GOP voters

will testify on Monday. State attorneys are expected to call his eldest daughter, former Trump Organization director and White House adviser Ivanka Trump, as their final witness on November 8. On Wednesday, her lawyer appealed the judge’s decision to require her testimony.

Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are both executive vice presidents at the Trump Organization and defendants in James’ lawsuit. Eric Trump oversees the company’s operations, while his brother has been involved in real estate development. He and Allen Weisselberg, a former chief financial officer, were also trustees of the revocable trust Trump set up to hold the company’s assets when he became president.

Before the trial, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that the ex-president’s financial statements were fraudulent. He ordered that a court-appointed trustee take control of some of his assets, potentially depriving him and his family of major properties like Trump Tower, although an appeals court has temporarily halted enforcement of that order .

Like their father, the brothers have denied wrongdoing.

Eric Trump spent several days at the trial, often on days when his father was present. He has commented on it sporadically, especially on social media. On Oct. On 5, he posted a video montage on Truth Social of James criticizing his father. He wrote: This is the corruption my father and our family are fighting against! The system is weaponized, broken and disgusting!

Trump Jr. was not at the trial before Wednesday, but has been since testimony began in October. 2 he has repeatedly denounced the case and Engoron as a kangaroo court. State law does not allow juries in these types of trials, so Engoron will decide the case.

It doesn’t matter what the rules are; it doesn’t matter what the constitution says; “It doesn’t matter what general practices and things would be,” Trump Jr. said. Monday on Newsmax. It does not matter. They have a story, they have an end goal and they will do whatever it takes to get there.

His father denounced Engoron on Wednesday in Truth Social as a Trump-hating political hack who does the dirty work for the Democratic Party.

Leave my children alone, Engoron. You are a disgrace to the legal profession! he wrote in one of many messages.

Building on the testimony of Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, state attorneys asked other witnesses about the brothers’ role in running the Trump Organization and their involvement over the years in evaluating their father’s properties and drafting his financial statements. Their names also appear on several emails and documents entered into evidence.

David McArdle, an appraiser at commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, tested that Eric Trump had substantial input in evaluating planned townhomes that were never built on a Trump-owned golf course in suburban New York City. McArdle said Eric Trump arrived at a higher value than he did for the project, and that using the higher number of scions would not have been credible.

During the trial, Trump Jr. has already heard and Eric Trump heard in excerpts from previous testimony. During opening statements on Oct. 1 last 2, state attorneys each showed about a minute of sworn depositions the brothers made in the case.

In his July 2022 clip, Trump Jr. tested his scant knowledge of accounting standards known as generally accepted accounting principles, which state attorneys say were sometimes used and ignored by others in preparing his father’s financial statements.

Trump Jr. said he did not remember having to use GAAP standards in his work. He got a laugh from a state attorney when he said he had probably heard about them in Accounting 101 at Wharton, but didn’t remember much other than that they were generally accepted.

In his March 2023 deposition, Eric Trump testified: I don’t think I had any involvement in the Statement of Financial Condition, that I know of. He appeared to downplay his role as the company’s top executive and testified that he tried to focus on the things he cared about and was “passionate about” while sharing management responsibilities with his brother.

“I’m a construction, concrete and ground operations guy,” he said, according to a transcript of the witness statement placed on the case docket.

When Eric Trump was questioned at another point about decision-making earlier in his career, he said: I pour concrete. I operate real estate. I don’t focus on valuations between a law firm and Cushman. This is just not what I do in my daily responsibilities.

The former president attended the first three days of the trials in early October and showed up four days in the past two weeks, but his campaign schedule suggests he is unlikely to return to see his sons testify.

In his past, Trump has grumbled to TV cameras outside court, calling the case a sham, a scam and a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.

He was also fined $15,000 for twice violating the judge’s limited gag order with comments about a member of court staff.