A combative Donald Trump clashed repeatedly with the judge on Monday as he took the stand in the New York civil fraud case threatening to cripple his real estate empire.
One year out from an election he hopes will return him to the White House, Trump became the first former US president to testify as a defendant in a court case in more than a century.
During his testimony, the 77-year-old Trump accused Judge Arthur Engoron of issuing “fraudulent” rulings, and denounced New York state attorney general Letitia James, who brought the case against him, as a “political hack.”
“He called me a fraud and he did not know anything about me,” Trump said of the judge, who was sitting right next to him, before calling the trial a “political witch hunt.”
“This is not a political rally,” the judge admonished Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. “Please, just answer the questions, no speeches.”
