The next witness could be final nail in Trump's fraud coffin: legal expert
Donald Trump's biggest defense in his New York fraud trial has been that he may have broken the law, but it didn't hurt anyone, so it shouldn't matter.
"No harm, no foul," characterized MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin, who's been watching the trial for the past month.
New York Times investigative reporter Susanne Craig explained that the bank not losing money over Trump's lies on the forms doesn't mean it couldn't have made more money had he been honest.
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The Attorney General's Office has "expressed interest in sort of vindicating the interest of all of us in New York who need to access financial markets. If people like Donald Trump can mess with the integrity of the markets, then it's certainly not —"
"Not a victimless crime," MSNBC host Ali Velshi cut in.
Appearing in court on Tuesday, Deutsche Bank was forced to admit their due diligence was limited by the information they could get out of Trump and the company.
"If the client isn't presenting to you accurate information in the first place, then your efforts to confirm that information are going to be lacking in some respects," Rubin explained. "They also talked about their willingness to grant Trump more favorable terms because of their perception of his net worth. They thought — and one of the witnesses today testified that he had $100 million in liquidity. That's something that I think experts on Trump might question."
But what will likely be the most important point is why Deutsche Bank cut ties with the Trump Organization if there was no problem on their end.
"Tomorrow [Wednesday] we're expecting to see Rosemary Vrablic, the senior banker with whom the Trump family dealt initially introduced by Jared Kushner," Rubin continued. "When we get to the part of why Deutsche Bank stopped extending credit to Donald Trump, she's the one who can tell that story and I expect that won't be helpful to Donald Trump because even if the loans performed, even if Deutsche Bank was happy, they ultimately decided that they weren't going to continue doing business with him and there was a reason why."
The attorney general believes that Deutsche Bank is a victim, whether they see it that way or not, but all Americans have become victims of corrupt markets.
Craig explained that the case has genuinely become about money, Trump's livelihood, and the inheritance of his children and their children.
"It's already real for him," continued Craig. "You know, the judge has already found on summary judgment that he is liable. There is a receiver over his company and whether or not they can continue to do business in the state of New York is at risk, and the fine could reach up to $250 million. We still don't quite know where it's going to come in. That is big money for him. It is not tax-deductible, and I think the next phase of this is we'll see it kicked up to the appellate court. They'll keep going on appeal, but that doesn't mean in the interim there's not going to be a potentially crippling effect to his business going forward because there's already a receiver over it and there have already been consequences."
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