List of trials that Donald Trump has testified in since 1986
Donald Trump’s hush-money trial is underway. He’s the first president to go on trial for criminal charges, though he’s testified in some trials in the past.
Former President Donald Trump is in New York for his much-awaited hush-money trial. He is the first US president, past or sitting, to go on trial for criminal charges.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of felony for allegedly falsifying business records in a hush-money plan to pay off women who contend they had affairs with him. He has pleaded not guilty to all the accusations, and has denied the relationships.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is no stranger to the court room, and has testified in several trials over the past few decades.
A few months ago, Trump took the witness stand in a $250 million civil fraud case brought against him and his business by the New York Attorney General’s office. The lawsuit claims that Trump and his co-defendants inflated his assets to get better terms from banks and insurance companies.
Prior to his court appearance in New York for the civil fraud case, the former president had testified in at least eight trials since 1986, according to an Associated Press review of news coverage as well as court records. He has also been found to have been questioned under oath in more than a dozen legal proceedings.
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List of trials that Donald Trump has testified in since 1986
In 1986, Trump, as owner of the New Jersey Generals, testified in the United States Football League’s anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL, denying charges that he had spied on NFL officials at one of his hotels.
He sought to buy Eastern Airlines Shuttle in 1988, wanting to rename it the Trump Shuttle. He testified that the purchase worth $365 million- an amount his own partners thought to be excessive- would boost employee morale.
In 1990, while testifying in a boxing-related case, Trump talked about a fight he had planned for one of his Atlantic City casinos, boasting that the Mike Tyson headliner would be one of the greatest rematches possible.
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A year later, the billionaire gave testimony in Manhattan against a man who claimed he deserved 25% of the proceeds from “Trump: The Game”, as he said he had an agreement to develop the board game.
Two men accused Trump of leaving them out of a riverboat gambling project in 1999, and he testified that he was unaware of the whole case and that he had no idea about who his accusers were.
In 2005, he won a lawsuit where he declared in court that a construction company had cheated him of $1.5 million by overcharging for work done at a Westchester County golf course in New York.
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87-year-old investor filed lawsuit against Trump
An 87-year-old widow from Chicago sued Trump in 2013 over changes in the contract for two units she had bought in one of his hotel and condominium towers as an investment. He raised his voice while on the witness stand and said “This is a disgrace…she’s trying to rip me off.”
Earlier this year Trump found himself in New York to take the stand and talk about statements he had made that the judge said violated an existing gag order.
At the start of 2024, he also testified in Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case, with Trump standing by his earlier testimony that her claim that he raped her was a hoax.
A jury ordered Trump to pay a total of $83.3 million to the writer for ruining her credibility when he called her a liar after she accused him of sexual assault.