2023
October
02
Monday

Monitor Daily Podcast

October 02, 2023
Error loading media: File could not be played
 
00:0000:0000:00
00:00
Peter Grier
Washington editor

Former President Donald Trump did something unusual for him on Monday: He attended the beginning of one of his own trials.

The civil case, brought by the New York state attorney general, accuses Mr. Trump of greatly exaggerating his net worth to get better terms on bank loans.

Unlike the criminal trials the former president will face next year, this trial does not bring the threat of a prison sentence. Rather, at stake here is money – possibly large sums.

On Monday, his lawyers argued that Mr. Trump’s actions cited in the suit constituted typical real estate practice.

“There is no crime. The crime is against me,” Mr. Trump told reporters outside the courtroom.

The judge overseeing the case, Arthur Engoron, has already ruled that Mr. Trump and his business organization committed fraud on a broad scale. Trump businesses claimed that the former president’s Trump Tower residence was 30,000 square feet, almost triple its actual size, according to Judge Engoron. They listed rent-stabilized apartments at market rates and inflated the price of Trump golf club memberships.

Reportedly, Mr. Trump’s lawyers did not request a jury trial, meaning the ruling is in Mr. Engoron’s hands. The trial beginning this week will set penalties. If the judge’s ruling withstands appeals, Mr. Trump could lose control over many of his signature New York properties, and he may have to pay a fine of upward of $250 million.

It’s unclear what political effect a ruling might have in today’s polarized landscape. But the trial represents a challenge to a core part of the former president’s identity: his brand as a successful real estate tycoon.


You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.

Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Courtesy of Kayla Corbitt
Matthew Corbitt holds his son August, in San Antonio, January 2023. Mr. Corbitt and his spouse struggled to find child care for their kids.
Scott Peterson/Getty Images/The Christian Science Monitor
Photographer Bandali Gharabi, owner of Beirut’s historic Studio Fouad, shows a print taken from black-and-white negatives that date back to 1955, in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 29, 2023. Decades of archived images survived the nearby 2020 Port of Beirut explosion because they were sandwiched between the walls of the studio, which was otherwise destroyed.

The Monitor's View

Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via REUTERS
A Philippine Coast Guard personnel cuts the rope connecting a floating barrier that was installed by China near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Viewfinder

Ahmed Saad/Reuters
Iraqi girls have their pencil cases and notebooks at the ready as they attend the first day of classes at their primary school in Baghdad, Oct. 1, 2023.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thank you for spending time with the Monitor today. Tomorrow, we look at the crisis in Sudan amid conflict between two military factions. As atrocities mount, humanitarian workers wonder why the harrowing stories aren’t moving the world like similar reports from Darfur did 20 years ago.

More issues

2023
October
02
Monday
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us