Don JR was back on the stand today to testify in the New York civil fraud trial. But this time, he had his failed brother at his side, co defendant Eric Trump. Now, we've said it before, but I think it bears repeating that the Trump Organization has already been found to have committed fraud. [00:00:17] This is a trial to determine the punishment. And if you didn't know that, maybe you don't watch TYT that often, but if you didn't know that, that's okay, because Donald Trump and his Republican allies have put in a lot of effort to ensure that you didn't know that, right? That's been their mission, is to ensure that people don't know that they've [00:00:36] already been found to have committed fraud, to make people think that this is the trial to determine whether or not they've committed fraud, and not just a trial to determine the punishments. With that, take a look. Here is New York Attorney General Letitia James breaking down [00:00:53] the testimony from Don JR and Eric Trump. >> Speaker 2: We just concluded day 22 of our trial against Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, and other defendants. Today we heard testimony from Donald Trump's sons and co-defendants, Donald Trump Jr. And Eric Trump. [00:01:09] As a trustee of the Donald J, Trump Revocable Trust, Donald Trump Jr. often made financial and business decisions on behalf of his father. He testified that he signed multiple documents confirming the accuracy of Donald Trump's statements of financial condition and [00:01:25] the Trump Organization's compliance with loan terms. But those documents were not accurate, and he knew it. In fact, just a week after he was confronted with the truth that his father's triplex was three times smaller than the statement of financial conditions that it was, Donald Trump Jr. continued to lie. [00:01:43] He certified to the family's accountants that all the information he sent them was accurate, including the value of the falsely enlarged triplex. Next, Eric Trump took the stand and insisted that he had never heard about his father's statements of financial condition before our investigation, [00:02:01] he told us his job was just to pour concrete. >> Speaker 1: [LAUGH] And I can't wait to get into the Eric Trump bit because it's so funny. It's so funny. But let's get into some more details on this, starting with Don Jr. who continued to say, he doesn't remember the specifics of [00:02:19] several documents he was presented with in court. So, from NBC News, he said that he relied on the accounting team, which included Allen Weisselberg, who was the company's CFO, and would ask all relevant parties information the documents [00:02:39] was correct, and then he would sign off on them. Asked about a loan document from it, but added, I'm sure I've signed dozens of these in my life as trustee. I feel like I have to say something about what I said yesterday on the show, [00:02:55] because I saw some comments that misconstrued what I thought was pretty obviously tongue in cheek. I joked that the first thing I learned in law school was that ignorance of the law is the best defense. And that's obviously the defense being presented by Don Jr, I saw some people taking that seriously. [00:03:11] It was a joke, not a defense. That is what he's trying to present is, but not legal advice. Don't pretend you didn't know the law or say you didn't know the law, just as a way to try to avoid liability. Okay, that being said, let's talk about Eric, who I think his situation was almost [00:03:30] even more comical than Don Jr. So he testified that he never worked on the Trump Organization's statement of financial condition and didn't know anything about it until this case came to fruition. From NBC News. He said, I was 26 at the time. I don't think I ever saw or worked on a statement of financial condition. [00:03:48] I don't believe I would have known about it. Not what I did, not what I did. But what he did do was get quite angry and raised his voice a bit as the Attorney General's office pressed him about his father's financial statements. So on to that. [00:04:03] Asked about a reference that he had made in a decade-old email that distribution of a summary of their personal finances should be limited, he said, you wouldn't want 1200 people to see your personal finances. Asked if the document he was trying to limit was a statement of financial condition, a financial statement he testified he didn't know anything about. [00:04:21] Eric seemed agitated and said, I was not personally aware of the statement of financial condition, and I did not work on a statement of financial condition. He was then shown an email sent to him by a Trump employee from 2013, telling him, the employee needed information from Eric Trump to help [00:04:37] put together his father's statement of financial condition. Asked by the Attorney General again if he knew about the statement, Eric said, it appears that way. So what he's doing is taking on the second best line of defense, which is to lie on the stand. To lie on the stand. [00:04:55] >> Speaker 3: Yeah, this is great. So I have not seen video of it. I don't think we have any. But essentially in the trial, they say that between the two sons, you saw two different ways to comport yourself. You had Donald Trump Jr. who was just I don't, [00:05:11] I don't really remember, I don't, I don't think that was the case. Like, cool, calm, collected, clueless. And then you had Eric Trump, who's like, come on, I don't, I just pour concrete. As if that guy's Rosie the riveting himself out, [00:05:28] like we could do it, and just, like, tipping concrete at the job site. And so essentially yes, what ended up happening. Letitia James basically summarizes what I've also seen, which is that through a very difficult line of questioning, [00:05:44] and I say difficult because it was apparently very difficult for the prosecutor to kind of get Eric Trump through all of it. By the end, Eric Trump did kind of cop to the fact that he doesn't just pour concrete. [00:05:59] And if that was his position, he'd be admitting he is the worst executive vice president of any organization in history, because he just doesn't know how much stuff costs and how much stuff is worth. So it's so hilarious. Almost as hilarious as the name of the Donald Trump Trust, [00:06:17] which is the Donald Trump Revocable Trust, which is the most succession mind game you can play with your kids, where it's like, listen, Junior, at any minute, gone. I take the trust, my trust, not your trust. [00:06:34] And I think that kind of mind game has created these little weird monsters in his two sons. >> Speaker 1: And I love it. I love the little bit of the dynamic between him and his sons. Like, from reports about the time he slapped Don Jr. for not putting on a suit [00:06:52] when he was taking him to a Yankees game, slapped him in his face in front of all of his friends at his college DORB, and then told him to put on a suit and walked away. I'm sorry, these are losers, right? The fact that the trust wasn't revoked is astounding to me. [00:07:09] How did they prove themselves to you, Donald Trump? What did they do? >> Speaker 3: I mean, but it just stands. I've talked to actual human beings who are like, listen, who believe this? It is impressive when the children don't lose every cent that was given to them by their billionaire father. [00:07:29] Now, they try really hard in this family, and I'm talking extended family, including Jared Kushner, who oversaw the literal worst real estate deal in history. But the difference for you and me is, if we lose it, we just lose it. And for them, they just have a much larger runway and more leeway when they make [00:07:48] a huge, horrible decision that Daddy will not revoke the trust. He'll just slap them around a little bit. >> Right, and unlike Jared Kushner, when we're in financial trouble, we can't just put a property up, list a property, and have some member of the Saudi royal family buy it from us. [00:08:05] It would be interesting for me to know what amount of the trust is going to Don Jr's cocaine fund and if it's possible to blow all that money on cocaine alone. And you know what? We'll keep you all updated forks [LAUGH]. [MUSIC]