The son of Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. should appear in court in New York this afternoon and testify in the proceedings against his father due to financial fraud. The former US president has been accused of falsifying and inflating the value of his assets to defraud banks and insurance companies.
Donald Trump Jr. is an executive vice president at the Trump Organization and is also charged in the case. He is the first of Trump's three children to appear in court. The former president is scheduled to testify on Monday.
The action is one of many being waged against Trump - who is simultaneously campaigning for the White House and currently leading the rest of his Republican rivals.
The lawsuit was filed by New York Attorney General Lettisha James and accuses Trump, his sons Donald and Eric and their family businesses of inflating property values to get better loan terms.
Trump has denied breaking the law and has repeatedly accused Prosecutor James and Judge Arthur Engoron of political bias.
"Leave my children alone, Engoron. You are a disgrace to the legal profession!" he wrote on social networks.
Trump is prohibited from speaking publicly about court personnel, but he violated that ban twice and was fined $15.000 (about 14.000 euros).
The former president is not required to attend the trial, but has appeared on occasion. His former lawyer and right-hand man, Michael Cohen, also testified against him. He came face-to-face with Trump at that hearing, the first time since they parted ways five years ago. Cohen said Trump led him to increase property values.
In this case, the prosecution is asking for a fine of at least 250 million dollars (about 236 million euros), a permanent ban on Trump and his sons from conducting business in New York, and a five-year ban on real estate trading.
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