Trump Jr. testifies again in $250 million fraud trial

Donald Trump Jr. is expected to return to the witness stand Monday as the defense kicks off its case in the $250 million civil fraud trial taking aim at former president Donald Trump’s New York business empire.

Defense attorneys will lay out their case four days after failing in their latest bid to have New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud claim thrown out.

James accuses Trump Sr., his adult sons Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the Trump Organization and its top executives of fraudulently inflating the values of Trump’s assets in order to boost his net worth and reap an array of financial benefits.

The AG seeks around $250 million in damages and wants to permanently bar Trump and his sons, who took over the Trump Organization after their father became president in 2017, from running another New York business.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that the defendants are liable for fraudulently misstating the values of real estate properties and other assets on Trump’s financial records. Engoron’s pretrial ruling also ordered the cancellation of the defendants’ New York business certificates, though an appeals court has temporarily blocked that order from taking effect.

The trial, which is being conducted without a jury, will determine penalties and resolve other claims in James’ lawsuit.

State lawyers rested their case in chief last week, following testimony from Trump and three of his adult children. Ivanka Trump, who in June was dismissed as a defendant by an appeals court, was the last of more than two dozen witnesses questioned on the stand by the state.

In his first round on the stand in early November, Trump Jr. testified that he was not involved in…