the state called their first witness donald bender. he was on the stand for several hours this afternoon. inside the courtroom, trump was very attentive. he was fully engaged. he was flipping through papers at times. he was watching the witnesses and his attorneys as they gave their testimony in their opening statements. but he did not engage with the new york attorney general at all. in fact, he passed by her three times without even looking at her. it was only one time that as he walked past, he glanced down to look at her. but they had no involvement, no engagement. eric trump in the court today did stop and see the attorney general. he shook hands with her. and then when he left for the end of the day, he spoke with her again for a second time that was quite a contrast from outside of court where donald trump took every opportunity to speak to the cameras and criticize the attorney general, calling this a witch hunt and politically motivated. wolf? >> kara, what happens next in this trial? >> tomorrow donald bender will be back on

trump's people trying to take that apart and say donald bender, who was his leader accoutant for manyhe stand, right? >> we've seen a little bit of another witness, cameron harris, the successor to donald bender and a different. familiar call donald bender's firm, resigned from the trump organization because they are concerned about what they didn't see. something that was only brought to their attention by the manhattan district attorney, which donald bender testified to a couple of days ago. but what trump's lawyers are trying to do is poke holes in donald bender and say this guy was a real bad accountant. he was the only cpa involved in the statements of financial condition. the trump people should have been allowed to rely upon him. the problem with that is that their contractual relationship, their engagement letters, what are called representation letters, show anything but. at all times the trump organization itself had the responsibility to give donald bender a full and accurate picture of their financial condition, and donald bender said back to them in the engagement, it's n

>> reporter: today has been all about donald bender who was former president trump's lead accountantng firm mazars. they're trying to establish that bender didn't do his job and that the folks in the trump organization who did not have a cpa among themhod have been ide their compilation of the to statements of financial cond that lie at the heart of this and at the end of cross examination, right beforehe tmp lawyer jesus suarez a powerful concession from bender that he didn't comply with accounting industry guidelines about familiarizing himself with the methods of valuing the assets. but at the end of the day, the issue is not whether donald bender was or was not a good accountant or whether he was overly reliant on the trump organization for his income, he wasn't a great accountant and weighs overreliant on the trump organization, the question is whether people in the marketplace could have been and were defrauded by what the trumps said their assets were worth. and based on the documents that have been admitted, all of those statements of financial condition, which the attorney g

their presentation and that they're not going to get away with the line by line examination of donald bender trying to do now. >> they also have an impatient client without a doubt, and now donald trump is under a partial gag order from the judge after, as we said, he posted a picture of one of his clerks. that is a no-no. what happens if trump breaks that? because the indication was that there would be serious consequences, but what does that mean? >> well, he probably won't break it, but if he -- >> really, you don't think he? >> it's a very narrow gag order. it just says you cannot do this against my court staff, so -- which the judge didn't say you can't do this against witnesses or the other attorneys, which is the very broad gag order, limited gag order that the special counsel is asking on the january 6th case. so this was so over the line i just -- and lisa can tell you and i've been practicing in manhattan courts for years, and i've had, you know, defendants who behaved bizarrely. no one has ever seen this behavior where -- let me explain, a law clerk works for the judge. is usually

it's as mark pomerantz said in his own book after interviewing donald bender. he's like the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. that having been said, the a.g. would like to use him as a credible witness here. then we moved on to mr. mcconney who's only about an hour into his testimony. the most interesting thing so far is learning tt mr. mcconney doesn't work for the trump organization anymore. he is now retired. he received a $500,000 severance package, 125,000 of which is still outstanding, but asked by the attorney general is that contingent on anything, mr. mcconney, he said no. >> lisa rubin at the fascinating trial in manhattan. thank you so much. >>> up next, from one case putting the former president's siness in jeopardy to another that could lead to jail time, we're at the fulton county courthouse where any moment now a hearing involving trump co-defendant sidney powell is going to get underway. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. al pneum? i help others. but i need to help protect myself. honestly? i couldn't afford to get si

in there for this afternoon's session. >> reporter: right now again we still have on the stand donald bender, that is the person who used to be the accountant for donald trump and trump organization. my understanding from my colleagues in the courtroom is donald trump, the former president is sitting there with his defense attorney listening intently as mr. bender is giving his testimony. it has been some intense moments in court, if you will, guys. you have to remember, set the scene, we have the attorney general who is in the front row listening. we have donald trump who is with his defense attorneys, and then we also have eric trump who is a defendant in this case sitting behind him. we're told that multiple times when donald trump walked in and out of the courtroom, he didn't even acknowledge the new york attorney general. in fact, one of the moments eric trump did go over to the new york attorney general and shook her hand with both hands. it wasn't until the lunch break that donald trump gave a little bit of an acknowledgment to the new york attorney general. you can imagine the mood i

so far what donald bender has testified to in the last few minutes is the suggestion that th preparedfinancial ion documents and a letter from the r to the trump organization, essentially a letter that stipulates that he takes the trump organization at their word for being binding and for accurate. that is going to the heart of the prosecution's effort to place it on the defendants along with donald trump and his children that were aware of the financial documents that were be being turned over to the banks and lenders. >> what is the significance of bender being the first witness? >> when you are a prosecutor or government attorney, you want to start with somebody safe and persuasive. bender has an interesting role in that he helped facilitate the overstatements of assets and did so unwittingly, as least according to the attorney general's theory, that h given the information by the members of the trump organization and used them put them into financi documents. in some way, he was a victim in all of this as the conduit that believed the representations he received and reported them

well, at one point, katy, he raised his hand because he could not hear his former accountant, donald bender spoken, has a lisp and a heavy queens accent. donald trump objected, i can't hear him. now, most plaintiffs and defendants as our guests can tell you, don't behave that way in the courtroom. they rely on their counsel to do the speaking for them. donald trump is no ordinary litigant. he's an entitled person, as a former president, which lawyers continue to remind witnesses. they believe he should be treated differently. they're trying to insinuate as accountants for the former president, they owed him a higher duty of care. any lawyer who is experienced in accounting cases or securities cases can tell you, you don't owe a different duty of carefulness to a client just because they're an important person, and so donald trump was continuing to behave as the important person he believes himself to do. the judge did ask mr. bender to speak up. it's really in the courtroom we have seen his anger. >> thank you very much. jeremy sala in thank you as well. >>> nurses, technicians are on strik

>> reporter: i was looking at the witness list here and donald bender is back on the stand. s the first witness. appeared throughout yesrday afternoon. he was donald trump's personal accountantho w working in the capacity with two key figures from the trump organization totrump's personal tax returns from 2011 through 2020. the second witns at we can anticipate mt likely this afternoon coming to the stand if they get through donald bender is the accountant who has worked with donald trump since then, dating back to2021, cameron harris, a cpa at whitley penn. he's part of their audit team. and then the big two witnesses to follow, this is the witnesses we could expect as soon as tomorrow or the back half of this week are the controller, jeffrey mcconney and the chief financial officer allen weisselberg. both individuals are named in this lawsuit as defendants. and they are important because they have worked for decades now with donald trump and the trump organization. and in a separate matter related to state charges that found the trump organization guilty in december of 2022

the first witness, as i mentioned, donald bender, trump's long time accountant, he testified to a lot of detailed accounting throughout the afternoon. but at the very end of the day, the judge said you know, a lot of this 2011 valuations seem to be redundant. we could be wasting our time, at which point trump jumped up with a trouble thumbs up, and his attorney said, i couldn't agree with you more, judge. >> what a circus. let me just play, just to remind everyone why we're here. this is michael cohen, him testifying in 2019 to congress. this is what led to this case happening at all. >> to your knowledge, did the president or his company ever inflate assets or revenues? >> yes. >> to your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company? >> yes. >> to your knowledge, was the president interested in reducing his local real estate tax bills? >> yes. >> how did he do that? >> what you do is deflate the value of the asset and then you put in a request to the tax department for a deduction. >> was that done with the president's knowledge or direction? >> e

we already heard from the first witness today, donald bender, one of the accumbens that dealt with a of -- accountants that dealt with a lot of the financial forms the trump organization filed. he said he relied on the trump organization's own estimates and if he knew anything was wrong, he would not have put his name on it. so, we will hear from more people from the trump organization. also, potentially donald trump and his two sons are on the witness list, so we will see if they do testify. certainly, it will be a lot of experts giving their opinion on these types of valuations because what we heard from donald trump's team is this is just business as it is done in new york. we will hear from experts about what they think of that. caitriona: the former president is facing four separate court proceedings. how significant is this one? >> yeah, at first glance, people might say this is a simple fraud case -- a civil fraud case, not a criminal case. he is facing four other criminal trials that could amount to jail time for mr. trump. but remember, donald trump billed his entire brand,

former president's second day in that manhattan courthouse on the stand, his former accountant, donald bender who said the trump organization had provided him with incomplete records. >> mr. trump and his sons are accused of inflating their net worth to get more favorable hoon te loa terms. >>> president biden's son pleaded not guilty in delaware, counts that his team will most certainly try to get dismissed >> reporter: hunter biden back in a delaware courthouse the son of a sitting president now facing a criminal trial. biden pleading not guilty to three felony gun charges for allegedly purchasing a handgun while being an active drug user and lying about it on a federal form his attorney calling the charges the result of political pressure from president trump and maga allies to force the justice department to ignore the law and deviate from policies in cases like this one. special counsel david weiss filing the charges after his controversial plea deal for the president's son which would have resulted in no prison time fell apart under a judge's scrutiny two irs whistle-blowers testified t

former president's second day in the manhattan courthouse on the stand, his former accountant donald bender who said the trump organization had supplied him with incomplete records. >> they are accused of inflating their net worth and deny any wrongdoing their legal team argues that real estate valuations are subjective >>> hunter biden was arraigned in delaware. the president's son pleaded not guilty to three felony firearms charges. he was indicted in federal court last month his initial plea deal on separate tax charges fell apart in july. this would have spared him jail time as well as dropped the firearms case. at the hearing, biden's legal team said they will make a number of motions aimed at getting the charges thrown out, citing that botched plea deal. the penalties range from five to ten years, but it will be up to the judge whether he will ultimately serve any jail time >>> in italy at least 21 people have been killed in a bus crash near venice. two of the dead are children 18 people are injured. while the precise cause of the accident is being investigated, authorities say the be

explained that is the attorney general's office will continue questioning a man by the name of donald bender, donald trump's old accountant, they have been discussing a lot of transactions and financial statements from back in 2011, the judge will allow that to continue if and only if the state connects it to crimes, alleged crimes that happened more recently after 2014 or in some cases after 2016. donald trump spoke for the second time today as he entered the courtroom, he was again very critical of new york attorney general letitia james. listen here. >> this case should be dismissed. this is not a case. she should probably be dismissed also because she is terrible and grossly incompetent. and they out to get on to violent crime in solving the problems of new york city and new york state. >> attorney general james accuses trump of falsely inflating his net worth and deceiving banks by fraudulently overvaluing his properties. sheep out of video last night saying she fundamentally disagrees with trump's interpretation of the statute of limitations in this case. this is a no jury trial which

testimony in the manhattan courtroom started with opening statements, and the state's first witness, donald bender, a long—time accountant for trump's businesses. bender tesified about financial documents, including discrepancies in the price of ivanka trump's penthouse. cbs chief election and campaign correspondent robert costa was in the courtroom during the hearing. he described the scene for us. there was a tense scene inside the courthouse behind me when trump entered the room. the former president did not even look at the attorney general, letitia james, who was sitting in the first row. then he took his seat up near thejudge, sitting alongside his lawyers, and as the government made its case, issued its opening statement, calling the trump organization a fraudulent organisation, you could see the former president cross his arms and shake his head in disgust, because, for him, this was deeply personal, according to the sources who have spoken with me today, long—time confidants of trump. they say this is not just a company to him, this is something intertwined with his life, his political ca

inside he again heard - with attorneys and was engaged as the prosecution and defence questioned donald bendernt who worked for the trump organisation for many years. mr bender said it was up to the company officials to certify the numbers they were giving was accurate. there was a number of objections that thejudge was a number of objections that the judge overruled from the defence side. for the most part, it was very stock standard question and answering. the real drama came outside of the courtroom when donald trump took to social media to attack the judge's clark. thejudge issued a gag order on the former president telling him he can no longer make personal comments about his staff, barring anyone else from doing so. during one of the break sleep i did get a chance to throw a question to donald trump. take a listen. mr trum - , donald trump. take a listen. ij�*i trump, will donald trump. take a listen. m trump, will you be testifying? yes, i will. trump, will you be testifying? yes, iwill. in trump, will you be testifying? yes, i will. in the appropriate time — yes, i will. in the appropr

> reporter: the examination today or the court proceedings really focused on a gentleman named donald bender. he's is donald trump's former ld accountant and was previously responsible for the issuance of these statements of financial condition that are at the heart of this case. but as you noted the bigger drama was not in the trump team's effort to discredit donald bender and make it seem as if it was folly for him to rely on the trump team for information. rather they should have been able to rely on him as a certified public accountant. the real drama is what happened outside the courtroom because trump during a break must have posted the social media post you were talking about earlier that then became the subject matter of the gag order. and hell hath no fury, nikwoel, like a judge whose staff is messed with. i can tell you that from personal experience as a former law clerk. judge engoron talked about the fact no one should be able to talk about his staff in social media posts without suffering consequences. >> tim, trump has attacked doj, fbi, judge chutkan, fani willis, the jurors.

, but on the stand right now, we are hearing more testimony from the trump's former accountant donald bender talking about the nitty-gritty of the financial statements, and how the property valuations were figured out, and who figured them out, and who signed is off on them, and all of the details, and we will continue to hear from the defense of course who is fighting for the fact that there was no intent or fraud when preparing financial statements and valuations, and they say there was no victims in this case, and those are the arguments that we will continue to hear echoed throughout the long civil trial. i can tell you that the former president walked in again, and he did not acknowledge new york attorney general letitia james seated inside of the courtroom, and this is after he made comments about her and the judge again outside of the courtroom, and his son, eric trump, is in the courtroom today. and do they plan to stay today? they stayed all day yesterday, and that is how long they will stay for the testimony. and how many times he will be back at the courtroom, because he is eager

when trump's lawyers were cross-examining the state's first witness, trump's long time accountant donald bender, that is expected to continue thursday and it could last all day. kara scannell, cnn, new york. >>> now to a cnn clexclusive. sources say hunter biden has wrapped up more than 10 million in legal bills and could face more. he is set to be weighing his fundraising options. >> legal fees include even lawsuits he's brought against his plit dolitical detractors. >> here is what i'll say about that. you've heard it, the president loves his son. he will continue to support him as he rebuilds his life. not going to speak to any private conversations that this president has with any member of his family. that is private. and just to remind you all as you know, you guys reported on this, this is an independent department of justice investigation. it has been. and which has been led by one of the prosecutors from the last administration. and so we're just not going to comment on the investigation specifically. >> hunter biden was in a federal court in delaware tuesday where he pleaded not guilt

inside, he conferred with attorneys and was engaged as the prosecution and defence questioned donald benderder said it was up to the company officials to certify the numbers they were giving was accurate. there was a number of objections that the judge overruled from the defence side. for the most part, it was very stock standard question and answering. the real drama came outside of the courtroom when donald trump took to social media to attack the judge's clerk. thejudge then issued a gag order on the former president telling him he can no longer make personal comments about his staff, and barring anyone else from doing so. during one of the breaks i did get a chance to throw a question to donald trump. take a listen. mr trump, will you be testifying? yes, i will. in the appropriate time i will be. i think it is going very well. everybody was given financial statements and they are extremely strong. the evidence are much more valuable. it cannot be fraud when you have told institutions to do their own work. this case is a fraud and it is a scam. thank you very much. donald trump still has

the judge becoming frustrated with his lawyers cross-examination of the state's first witness, donald bender. they were going over the financial statements year by year. apartment, property, golf course by golf course, and the judge was getting frustrated. at one point, he slammed his hand down on the bench and said this is ridiculous, you're not allowed to waste time. now, after trump left, the mood if the courtroom really lighten. the judge wished one of the state attorneys a happy birthday and there was a lot more looseness to the room. a lot more levity. this is just the beginning of this trial. the accountant is back on the stand tomorrow for more cross-examination and one of trump's attorneys said that could go all day. >> thank you very much. for more on all this, i want to bring in our chief legal analyst, laura coates and norm. laura, how egregious is it for trump to reup these attacks a day after this gag order was imposed on him? >> he's not only trying to poke the bear, he's showing you how little respect he has in regard for judicial order. the orders weren't just put there as a

there's cross-examination of the state's first-time witness, trump's accountant donald bender.s testified how he helped compile the information that trump prepared at the heart of this case. they had bender testify according to accounting guidance, he's supposed to in compiling these statements look for any obviously inappropriate values. bender testified for ten years looking at these values years in this litigation he said nothing jumped out as obviously, an inappropriate value. of course, the allegations here are that these financial statements were inflated. the judge did find that but trump's lawyers are appealing. and they filed the notice of appeal on that today as well. the judge has become frustrated with the trump attorneys' cross-examination of bender saying that bender is not on trial, that someone else is. -- property. you know, there'ses dos of property and ten years at issue here. and the judge slamming his fist on the bench several times. saying this is ridiculous. you're not allowed to waste time. so cross-examination will begin shortly once the session begins

donald bender is trump's long time accountant and he will be the person that cop opposed the financial statements for the trump organization for most of the decade under scrutiny. and he will be the first witness on the stand. and the attorney general's office signaling also in their opening statement that it is not just michael cohen who shouldn't be relied on, they say that another trump organization executive will be testifying in this case and this person will say that the trump organization -- that they knew that he was told by allen weisselberg the chief financial officer that donald trump wanted his net worth high. and that is the heart of 9 the case because attorney general is alleging that they inflated his properties all to increase his net worth on these financial statements and it was that net worth at the high level is what caused the banks to issue these loans, what caused the insurers to give them better rates. this is where the sparring will take place as the trial unfolds the next several weeks, the battle what have did the banks rely organization what statements were

they are extremely engaged in this testimony that is continuing with their former accountant, donald bender. they are looking through the documents up on screens. they are discussing issues with their attorneys, as they continue to really defend their brand, as you just pointed out. this was their life. this is what they campaign on as they head into the next election season. but also, this was what their lives were before the presidency. but let's go to sound of what he was saying prior to that short break. >> the judge has been given false and extremely misleading information about my net worth. a private company, nobody is supposed to know my net worth, but now everybody is and will. i hope you're impressed. we built a great company. but he's been given false information, misleading information and corrupt information by a very corrupt and incompetent attorney general. >> reporter: so that's getting at to what you were talking about, the fact that he still continues to hammer home he's very rich and the judge is wrong, the a.g. is wrong about bringing this trial forward. the big question

essentially, the person who was on the stand and who will continue on the stand tomorrow is donald bender, the former accountant for trump and trump org. the state's attorneys spent several hours questioning bender on financial documents that relate to alleged crimes from 2011. now, that is outside the statute of limitations, the court has already decided the crimes alleged have to be from 2014 and on. and so the fact that this was continued on for three hours, the judge said, was he's hoping the state's attorneys are going to connect the dots between what they're alleging prior to 2014 to what happened, and is relevant to this particular trial, and he said in that, i trust, that you can relate the 2011 documents to something that happened later, or else this has been a waste of time. so, trump very happy to hear that from the judge, of course marly because he fought in appeals court and won when the institute statute of limitations would be established. that's why he was more jovial. he did take many times before to disparage the judge in those comments in the hallway and of course letit

conferred with his attorneys and was engaged as the prosecution and the defence began questioning donald bender years. now mr banda said it was up to the company officials to certify that the numbers they were giving may's ours was accurate. there were a number of objections the judge overruled from the defence's side but for the most part it was very stock standard question and answering. the real drama came outside the courtroom when donald trump took to social media to attack the judges clerk. the took to social media to attack thejudges clerk. thejudge then issued a gag order on the former president, telling him he could no longer make personal comments about his staff, and barring anyone else from doing so —— mazars. during one of the breaks i did get a chance to throw question to mr trump. mrtrump, will you be testifying? trump. mr trump, will you be testifying?— testifying? yes, i well at the appropriate _ testifying? yes, i well at the appropriate time, _ testifying? yes, i well at the appropriate time, i - testifying? yes, i well at the appropriate time, i will - testifying? yes, i wel

testimony in the manhattan courtroom started with opening statements, and the state's first witness, donald benderondent naomi ruchin described the former president's appearance in court. he lashed out at both the judge and prosecutors, turning the courtroom always into a stomping ground. he rallied against new york attorney general letitia james, calling her a disgrace. he said there was no case because there is "no victim". the judge in the case ruled last week that donald trump, his eldest sons and business had committed fraud. donald trump lashed out against him, too, saying thejudge donald trump lashed out against him, too, saying the judge should donald trump lashed out against him, too, saying thejudge should be disbarred. the former president �*s legal team argued that the numbers they listed in documents where estimates, not absolutes, and they say a key prosecution witness, former champ victor michael cohen, is a serial liar.— is a serial liar. donald trump does not turn is a serial liar. donald trump does rrot turn op _ is a serial liar. donald trump does rrot turn up to _ is a serial l

. >> reporter: trump's former accountant donald bender continued to testify as kevin wallace, a lawyer for the attorney general methodically reviewed accounting engagement letters for 2012 through 2020, making the point that it was up to the trump organization to provide accurate data to accounting for its annual financial statements. bender later testified he learned the trump organization withheld aprayles from his firm. had he known that they would have not compiled financial statements. during a break trump confirmed he tends to testify in his own defense. his name had been on the trial's witness list. >> mr. trump, will you be testifying? >> yes, he will. at the appropriate timely be. >>> police in baltimore, maryland say five people have been shot on the campus of morgan state university. in a news conference earlier, officials said four of the victims are students at the school. all five are expected to survive. a shelter in place order has been lifted, even though police say they're still searching for the shooter. baltimore's mayor says the shooting should be a wake-up call fo

when the court is started today, we expect the former accountant donald bender to get in and the attorneys to go through the nitty-gritty of the financial statements and how the valuations were determined in the trump properties, and of course, the defense is fighting that there was no fraud here and no intent, and there are no victims in this case. as far as the former president is concernedsh it is unclear how long he plans on staying today, and of course, he was here for the entire day yesterday, and unclear if he is going to do the same today, but what is interesting is going forward and how many days does he show up to court, because he is on the witness list, and his sons are expected to testify as well, and people that he may be interested in listening to are expected to testify like former attorney michael cohen which is why this whole case got started in the first place, and this is something that we will keep an eye out for, and yesterday, he was engaged with the testimony listening, because as you pointed out, this is a lot at stake here, and this is his brand, and intent on def

we understand that witness is likely to be donald bender. he was donald trump's lead accountant. one thing interesting about alina habba's presentation, in addition to her tone being so different than chris kise and cliff robert who represents donald trump jr. and eric trump, she put the blame on ms. czar. essentially they had disclaimers saying these were performed by accountants, why is nobody investigating the czars. i think we can look to that cross-examination to be a much more strenuous and heated one than we might have expected than someone who served as donald trump's lead accountant for a period of many, many years. accountants are traditionally mild mannered people. i don't think this examination will be mild mannered. >> after that, sue, who else? who will you be looking at? >> one other point this afternoon is alina habba, trump's lawyer saying not only diz ms. czars prepare the statement, that's not what my reading says. there's disclaimers on them. there's a big defense for trump, there are these disclaimer. they say we were provided information and this is all on d

it actually started by questioning the first witness in the case, donald bender, an accountant for theing firm for the trump organization. that progressed along into the first codefendant, the one that was mentioned in that story day you referred to. that is a jeff mcconney. that testimony, and this was a very eye-opening questioning. it went to something that went to one of the central allegations here. this is the tripling of the trump tower triplets. folks may remember who have been closely following the case that this xxx was something north of 10,000 square feet, but listed in these trump statements of financial condition as 30,000 feet, and that gave a big boost. now in this questioning today, in this testimony, we found a little bit of back story when the a.g. office showed these females between mcconney and executives from trump international realty, and it went to that lead, that they were referring to earlier, basically saying that they put a premium on celebrity. now, what would get it to be that much higher than what they were saying in the other emails, comparing it to ano

i also believe that donald bender from mazers stated the same exact thing. look, i also testified before the house oversight committee and said the exact same thing as well, that everything that happened at the trump organization happened at the direction and with the explicit knowledge of donald j. trump. >> and you were, and that's by the way a big part of the reason why this case is happening right now, is because of what you said in that room specifically referring to valuations and trump getting loans from deutsche bank. wil leticia james put out a statement late last night, michael. >> the defendants like to act as though this case is very complicated when, in fact, the fraud they committed is simple. donald trump often calls his business perfect and beautiful, but it's clear that when it comes to running a company, he doesn't care about the real numbers or the facts. >> as i said, michael, you're likely to be a witness here. you're on the list. they all want to hear from you. are you confident that from what you know and saw that you can link donald t

the state first witness continued testimony today, donald bender.s former president terms old accountant, former president trump did not speak as he left the courtroom after proceedings saying he will be back tomorrow. >> was terrific, from back in from a congressional investigator sam dewey and former white house -- this is the crux of the matter. trump set banks went off on fraud, they didn't find fraud. trump is his legal team that 80% of the case could be tossed out, the judge conceded the statute of limitations are expired on transactions that closed prior to the date in 2014 but now the judge is saying doesn't knockout evidence, they can still use the evidence from prior to 2014 and use it to go after president trump, what you make of this. >> at times you can use evidence that predates the statute of limitations to prove something like intent or something like that and i take it the judge was saying we will allow it for now but you have to connect it back so i think we'll have to see what happens. connect connect evidence back or is this situ

remains a factor over the proceedings where two former trump accountants testified, including donald benderviously testified that he compiled financial statements for the trump org using information given to him by trump and his company. donald trump's civil fraud trial grappling with the consequences of trump's ongoing dangerous rhetoric is where we begin today. russ is back with us. also joining us, andrew weissmann. a former top official with the justice department. and former fbi counterintelligence act pete struck is back. andrew, i want to start with you. i know that in the political arena trump's lies have a cumulative positive effect for him. they aid him politically because he lies so many times that his supporters believe that there was some fraud in the 2020 -- whatever the lie is he is telling them. i have wonder in a legal capacity if he is clearly making these stops to raise money, if they are going to bite him in the butt when he tries to argue that he doesn't have time to go to trials because he is campaigning. he is making the trials the centerpiece of his political candida

only in town for a little while, but basically interrupted the testimony of the other counted, donald bender, who will return tomorrow. and that is what is at the heart of these proceedings. these transactions, the people who prepared the presidents, the former president's financial statements, statements of financial condition, and we'll get in the weeds of that, as the week continues, without trump there. >> kevin christian, one of the things donald trump likes to say in the hallway is that it's an injustice that there is no jury for this trial. but that is something his lawyers chose, isn't it? >> that's correct. there is a debate, and saying he probably was not entitled to one because this was a case involving the attorney general seeking equitable relief. but he didn't even ask for one so he could've astral one and litigated. instead the law is not clear, iran, or we should get a jury trial. so he literally a check off box the way it works in new york state supreme court. and his lawyers didn't do that. they now are saying well we weren't entitled to one anyway but he could've checked i

when testimony began, martha, a lot of the state's questioning with donald bender, former president trump'swas in relation to financial statements from 2011. they've since moved to more recent financial statements. but former president trump's team believes that 80% of this case should be thrown out. when they have been questioning these witnesses on a year by year basis, the judge has accused them of wasting everyone's time. so the judge is trying to expedite this process. it appears to be dragging out in his view right now. we'll see exactly what comes of this in the next couple days. >> martha: it's an unusual situation. it's not the kind of trial that most people are used to watching on tv. there's no jury. the judge made a broad statement about the case before it started. his feelings are very well known at this time. he would love to move it along. you can't blame the other side for trying to go piece by piece. we'll see where it goes. nate, thanks very much. breaking news from nate foy in the trump case this afternoon. so before we let you go, how about this? 24 million, that is how

the offensive trying to land some blows at the credibility of the government's first witness, donald bendertrump's long-time accountant. and so when bender was on the stand, you know, the issue in this case is the financial statements. he compiled them. so trump's attorneys were hitting at him saying did he follow accounting guidance and did he ever notice any obviously inappropriate values for financial statements over this decade period of time. and bender testified nothing jumped out. they were asking him repeatedly questions going through these financial statements year by year, property by property. that got the judge really frustrated. it became testy in there. the judge had warned them to move on, that they could just do this in a summary type of quest. trump's lawyers pushed back. they started cross again. the judge got frustrated. he slammed his hands on the bench and he said, this is ridiculous. i made an order. so things got a little heated in there today. now, the cross-examination will continue after the lunch break, but trump won't be there, as you said, because he's left cour

former president trump's old accountant, a man by the name of donald bender. after the morning session, former president trump had choice words for new york attorney general letitia james calling her corrupt and he continued to voice his displeasure with the judge in this case, justice arthur engeron, a democrat that former president trump said is mischaracterizing him. >> we're going to be here for months for a judge that already made up his mind. it's a democratic judge and it's ridiculous. >> former president trump appears very serious while the justice is seen smiling and shrugging. this is a no-jury trial, which means the justice will have sole discretion in punishing trump for fraud. he ruled last week that trump and his adult sons as well as others fraudulently overvalued their property and during opening statements today, the state argued trump and others routinely filed false financial records. but trump's attorney said the records were in fact accurate. attorney general james filed the lawsuit last year. she's seeking a $250 million fine and severe r

frustration the judge was feeling over a previous witness donald bender, over that cross-examinationentially the judge saying how long is this going to go on? remember this trial could go through december, he's trying to keep things on a tight schedule, and there was also a couple of developments just in the legal process here of this case, so this morning the judge issuing an order giving an october 26th deadline for both sides to name potential receivers for the dissolution of the trump llcs. the judge saying trump is liable for fraud. the first claim that the a.g.'s office is bringing. from trump's defense attorneys said this afternoon, in addition to appealing that decision, they'll file a notice for a stay. kate. >> they're trying to stop that judgment that came against them. former president trump has gone back to florida, is he coming back at all? >> reporter: there's no indication that he's going to be back soon, kuwait, but the expectation we'll be back potentially for the testimony of some of his adult children if they're in fact called to the stand. two of them eric and do

. >> team crossed former accountant donald bender who testified he informed the trump organization heisagreed with his method of valuing assets citing the 57th street property. edge ron instructed trump's lawyers to speed up questioning about the former president's properties and annual financial statements. >> and you see what is happening. this is a railroad. and the judge already knows what is he going to do. he is a democrat judge. >> a partial gag order remains in effect after president trump posted on social media, accusing the judge's law clerk of dating senate majority leader chuck schumer. trump can still discuss the case and the people he believes are politically targeting him. >> our hole system is corrupt. this is corrupt. atlanta is corrupt. and what is coming out of d.c. is corrupt. if i'm running, you pay it back, and you get sued by a political animal. >> comments that prompted this response from james. >> i will not sit idly by and let anyone to subvert the law. lastly, i will not be bullied. >> bret, tonight, former president trump is back at his mar-a-lago residence

the stand was more direct testimony and the cross examination of trump's longtime accountant, donald bender. when he was asked questions on direct by the attorney general's office, he said that it was the trump organization that gave him all the information that went into the financial statements compiled. these statements are at the center of the case. they're the statements the judge has said are already fraudulent. he testified when questioned by the attorney general's staff he later learned only two years ago that the trump organization had appraisals for some of these properties in some of these years that they did not share with him, which could have potentially impacted the values put on financial statements. when asked by one of the state attorneys general whether that mattered, he said yes, they would not have issued the financial statements had they known that. >> kara scannell in new york city for us, thank you very, very much. >>> joining us to talk about this new reporting ryan good man, special counsel at department of defense, now with just security. the legal reporter for "b

and donald bender, trump's former accountant, testified today.someone that you've called before. trump looked pretty uncomfortable during that moment. why do you think it would be so upsetting? what does he have that would be upsetting to trump? >> i wasn't in court today but obviously mr. bender was an accountant who worked for the trump organization. i think testified, if i'm correct, correct me if i'm wrong, that he felt like he was misled. and misled significantly. so that -- he will be cross-examined, he's trying to cover his own mistakes. it'll be all these arguments. but those i don't think we'll have any way with the judge. as preet said, we're. done maybe he's making a record for the court of appeals. but when you are an accountant or some professional that you worked with for decades and who has an inside knowledge of finances and how business works, when that person basically says i was like to, that's relevant and important. >> they literally have the receipts. and then some, a lot of paper. but one of the things, preet, that was stri

his former accountant, donald bender is being cross examined.disagreed with the trump organization method of valuing assets. and out here live, the trump's team has filed a notice to appeal the pretrial ruling from the judge that trump is liable for fraud. and attorney general james said among other things that the trump show is over, and she accused him of coming here to new york just to get fundraising money in his campaign for president. back to you. >> gillian: nate foy outside the courthouse, thank you. john. >> john: president biden announcing the latest student forgiveness loan plan, cancel $9 billion in student loan debt for 125,000 borrowers. the crisis is well beyond 20-year-olds. highlighted how the student debt problem is actually multi-generational. with parents who are approaching their 50s paying off loans while their kids take out new loans. tammy bruce and david carlucci. the smallest group, people less than 24 years old. largest group is people age 35 to 49, and tammy, these are not young graduates looking for work or taking so