Court staffer arrested after approaching Trump during dramatic day at his NYC fraud trial
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s New York fraud trial exhibited some moments of courtroom drama Wednesday, with a court employee arrested after trying to approach the former president and his lawyers on the attack against a real estate appraiser in the witness box.
After the mid-morning break, an unnamed woman came into the ceremonial courtroom in Manhattan’s 60 Centre St., where Trump, his sons, and top execs are on trial. Shortly after taking her seat, she got up and walked toward the defense table, attempting to communicate that she wanted to sit with Trump, a law enforcement source told the Daily News.
State Office of Court Administration spokesman Lucian Chalfen said the woman works for New York’s court system and wanted to “assist” Trump. He confirmed she was arrested for disrupting a court proceeding and barred from returning to work or any court facilities pending an investigation.
“None of the parties were ever in any danger,” Chalfen said.
Trump didn’t appear fazed by the bizarre disturbance. Asked about it afterward, he told reporters he hadn’t noticed.
The Republican frontrunner for president, 77, was overheard loudly sighing during the defense’s cross-exam of real estate appraiser Doug Larson, prompting Judge Arthur Engoron to call for quiet.
In a damaging day of testimony for Trump's team on Tuesday, Larson, former executive director of international real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, testified it was “inaccurate and inappropriate” of the Trump Org to credit him as an independent expert in evaluations of Trump assets presented in business deals.
Lawyers for Attorney General Tish James presented evidence showing ex-Trump Org controller and defendant Jeff McConney cited advice Larson gave him in breaking down questionable calculations for Trump-owned assets. But Larson, who appraised some Trump assets for lenders, denied participating in valuations with Trump execs.
On Wednesday, Trump lawyers insinuated Larson was lying, presenting correspondence between him and McConney he said he didn’t remember.
Engoron sent Larson out of the courtroom as the two sides sparred when Trump lawyer Chris Kise said he should be advised of the risks of committing perjury. Attorney general lawyers, in response, said Kise was putting on a show for the journalists in the room.
On the stand, under a grilling by Trump lawyer Lazaro Fields, an uncomfortable-looking Larson acknowledged that McConney had called him “periodically” to get his take on sales and market conditions but maintained he had not spoken with him about Trump’s Wall Street skyscraper in 2016, as claimed.
Kise clarified later he had “never” accused Larson of perjury, just expressing concern, but Trump nevertheless described the correspondence as proof of his innocence.
“They didn’t reveal all the evidence that made me totally innocent of anything that they say,” Trump said, lamenting he “had to be here for this” instead of on the campaign trail. “This was like Perry Mason.”
When Larson finished, AG lawyers called Jack Weisselberg, an exec at one of the Trump Org’s biggest lenders, Ladder Capital, and son of Allen Weisselberg — Trump’s convicted ex-finance chief and co-defendant. An email presented in court showed the elder Weisselberg contacting his son directly in 2011 about securing a $65 million loan for the Trump Org. He’s expected to continue on the stand Thursday.
The AG has already won her top claim against Trump and his top associates, with Engoron finding in a pretrial ruling they engaged in persistent fraud by submitting bogus valuations exaggerating his worth on a scale of billions in business deals from 2014 through 2021.
James says the lies served to boost Trump’s bottom line and reputation. The case on trial covers her remaining six claims related to insurance fraud, falsifying records, and the conspiracy underlying the fraud.
Trump and his associates deny all wrongdoing. They are appealing Engoron’s pretrial judgment, which also ordered them stripped of certificates they need to run a business in New York.
The former president — under two gag orders, including from Engoron— sounded off outside the courtroom throughout the day about the “hostile judge,” James, and multiple other things. He left shortly before proceedings wrapped.
Trump is expected back next week for his former fixer Michael Cohen’s testimony. If it goes forward, it will see them reunite after a years-long feud precipitated by Cohen’s 2018 arrest for paying off Stormy Daniels, among other crimes. Cohen’s confessions before Congress in 2019 about Trump’s business habits ignited the AG’s investigation.
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