Trump Takes the Stand Before Judge He Called a ‘Wacko’

Donald Trump took the stand Monday in his $250 million fraud trial, facing down prosecutors he claims are carrying out a “witch hunt,” a judge he insists is a “wacko” out to “damage and defame” him and his “very good children,” and an attorney general he has called “failed and corrupt.”

The twice-impeached former president sauntered into the already secure courtroom shortly after 10 a.m., surrounded by a coterie of Secret Service agents.

The case cuts to the core of Trump’s carefully crafted identity as a savvy titan of industry, which New York State Attorney General Letitia James says was built on a foundation of lies. Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that the ex-president committed repeated and persistent fraud in manipulating aspects of his company’s financial statements upward to gain advantageous rates on bank loans and insurance policies, and downward to lower his tax burden. This portion of the trial is now playing out to determine what penalties Trump and his adult sons will face.

Read more at The Daily Beast.