Donald Trump’s legal team took a blow Tuesday in his $250 million civil court trial when New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled their expert witnesses couldn’t testify about the value of one of his golf courses, according to reports.
Trump pal and real estate investor Steven Witkoff was slated to speak about financial documents linked to Trump’s Doral golf course until State prosecutors issued an objection which Engoron sustained, ABC News reports.
Chris Kise called Witkoff to show that if some Trump properties were overvalued, others, such as Doral, essentially balanced the books by being undervalued, according to the report.
Lisa Rubin, legal analyst for MSNBC, reports Engoron asked Kise, “Is it your position that if a financial statement has two assets, one is overvalued and one of which is undervalued, that if it balances out, there’s no materiality?”
According to ABC News, Kise argued, "It is highly, extraordinarily relevant if there are assets that are undervalued."
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State attorney Andrew Amer retorted, and Engoron ultimately agreed, that inconsistencies don’t "come out in the wash," ABC News reports.
ABC News reported from inside the courtroom that Engoron then promised he would sustain all objections linked to Doral, concluding, "They are looking for accuracy."
Trump and his sons, accused of fraudulently inflating the value of Trump Organization holdings, deny wrongdoing.
