Extract from ABC News
Eric Trump is the second Trump family member to testify in the New York civil trial about financial statements that a judge has ruled were fraudulently manipulated to inflate the value of his father Donald Trump's business.
His testimony came after his brother Donald Trump Jr's second court appearance on Thursday.
Donald Trump had put the two sons in charge of his real estate empire while he served as US president from 2017 to 2021, but they both say they had no involvement with the documents at the centre of the fraud trial.
Here's a recap of what they said in court on the second day of the Trump family taking the stand.
But first, what is this case about again?
New York Attorney-General Letitia James sued Donald Trump, his company and top executives — including Eric and Donald Trump Jr — for fraud last year.
She accused them of inflating the ex-president's net worth on annual financial statements that were given to banks, insurers and others to secure loans and make deals.
The case is mostly about damages now because Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization fraudulently inflated those asset values.
Ms James is seeking at least $US250 million ($390 million) in fines, as well as a permanent ban on the former president and his two adult sons from running businesses in New York.
So what did Eric Trump say?
Like Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump said he was not aware of the financial statements that were used to secure loans and insurance that allowed the Trump Organization to keep functioning.
As he started his testimony, Eric Trump said he "never had anything to do with the statement of financial condition", did not believe that he had ever seen one and "didn't know anything about it, really, until this case came into fruition".
"It's not what I did for the company," he said, insisting his interests lie mainly in "pouring concrete" — constructing and operating properties.
[He] said that while he knew the company had financial documents, he "was not personally aware of the statement of financial condition".
State lawyer Andrew Amer then showed him 2013 emails from then-Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney who explained to Eric Trump that he was "working on your father's statement of financial condition" and needed information on one of the company's properties.
"So you did know about your father's annual financial statement as of August 2013?" Mr Amer asked.
"It appears that way," Eric Trump, who was a lower-level executive at the time, said.
Eric Trump then clarified:
"We're a major organization, a massive real estate organization — yes, I'm fairly sure I understand that we have financial statements. Absolutely."
But he insisted: "I had no involvement and never worked on my father's statement of financial condition."
In another email in 2013, Mr McConney said he was "working on the notes to Mr Trump's annual financial statement" and asked Eric Trump and others for an update on any major construction work that had recently been started.
"Yes, I know Jeff McConney does financial statements for my father," Eric Trump said.
Soon after, he sprang into his answer about the company being a "massive real estate organisation".
Emails and documents indicated he had answered Mr McConney's requests.
But when asked to concede that he was actually "very familiar" with the financial statements, Eric Trump cast the messages as just answering an accounting colleague's request for a property description.
"I just don't think it would have registered" that they were for the financial statement, he said.
And what about Donald Trump Jr?
Donald Trump Jr testified earlier on Thursday that, despite Ms James's allegations, he still believed his father's financial statements were "materially accurate".
Donald Trump has said that, if anything, the numbers listed on the documents low-balled his wealth and the value of his skyscrapers, golf courses and other properties.
Echoing his testimony of Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr insisted he dealt with the financial statements only in passing — signing off on them as a trustee for his father's trust and providing them to lenders to comply with loan requirements.
He reiterated that he did so while relying on assurances from company finance executives and an outside accounting firm that the information was accurate.
"If they assured me in their expert opinion that these things were fine, I would've been fine with that and signed off accordingly," Donald Trump Jr said.
Outside the courthouse, he told reporters he thought his testimony went "really well, if we were actually dealing with logic and reason, the way business is conducted".
"Unfortunately, the attorney-general has brought forth a case that is purely a political persecution," he said.
"I think it's a truly scary precedent for New York, for me, for example, before even having a day in court, I'm apparently guilty of fraud for relying on my accountants to do, wait for it: accounting."
What's next?
Eric Trump will return to the witness stand on Friday (local time).
Donald Trump himself is set to testify on November 6, and his daughter Ivanka — who is not a defendant in the case — on November 8.
Judge Engoron has ordered the dissolution of companies that control pillars of Donald Trump's real estate portfolio, including Trump Tower. That ruling is on hold while he appeals.
The trial is one of many legal troubles the former reality TV star must contend with as he campaigns to regain the presidency in the 2024 US election.
He faces a total of 91 felony charges in four separate criminal prosecutions, including two cases stemming from his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The former president has appeared several times to observe the proceedings and complain about the case to the TV cameras assembled in the hallway outside.
Donald Trump has not faced sanctions for those attacks, but Judge Engoron has fined him $US15,000 ($23,300) for twice violating a limited gag order that bars him from speaking publicly about court staff.
ABC/wires
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