Gagged but still hollering, Donald Trump returns to his NY fraud trial and calls AG Letitia James a lunatic

• Donald Trump has returned to his civil fraud trial in New York.

• Two limited gag orders didn't stop him from addressing reporters in true Trumpian fashion.

• "Letitia" has been "ranting and raving like a lunatic," he complained of state AG Letitia James.

A pair of limited gag orders didn't stop Donald Trump on Tuesday from holding court in the hallway outside his Manhattan civil fraud trial, where he regaled the cameras with criticism of the New York attorney general who's trying to run him out of her state.

"This is an attorney general, Letitia, that went out and campaigned on 'I will get Trump, I will get Trump no matter what,'" the former president told reporters before going inside the courtroom.

"People took tapes of her because they couldn't believe her ranting and raving like a lunatic," he said angrily, in what could fairly be described as a rant of his own.

"This is the attorney general of New York state, Leticia James, and she shouldn't be allowed to be attorney general. She's defrauded the public with this trial."

Trump, his real estate company, and four of its longstanding executives – including Donald Trump, Jr., and Eric Trump – are on trial over civil allegations, brought by the state attorney general's office, that they conspired to defraud banks and insurers by grossly exaggerating the Trump Organization's worth.

Trump had attended the first three days of trial, using the time to hold a series of irate, mini press conferences.  James and Eric Trump are also attending the trial on Tuesday, and are sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom's front row.

Trump currently has two limited gag orders against him, one imposed Monday by the federal judge in his Washington, DC, election interference case and one imposed in the civil trial.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, Trump called the Manhattan trial judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, a "Radical Left Democrat Judge WHO IS HIGHLY POLITICAL."

But Trump's civil fraud trial gag order is limited in scope. It bars him only from making "personal attacks on members of my court staff," not on the judge himself.

Crowds outside the courthouse on this second day of the third week of trial were sparse, despite Trump's appearance, and his morning Truth Social posting, which urged, "America cannot let this happen."

America, at least throughout the morning, largely stayed away from the courthouse.

"She thinks it's a total disgrace," Trump said during a morning break, when a reporter asked what his wife, Melania Trump, thinks of the trial.

"She thinks it's a total disgrace. She thinks it's very, very unfair and all of it is election interference and it all starts at the DOJ. It starts with Biden," he said.

The name 'Ivanka' caught his attention

Trump sat, his shoulders hunched forward, at the defense table, throughout the morning. His lawyers, Alina Habba and Christopher Kise, sat on either side of him.

The former president watched along on a computer monitor that showed each court exhibit being discussed, most of them internal Trump Org spreadsheets and email chains.

Trump raised his head when the day's first witness – Donna Kidder, Trump Org's current assistant controller – mentioned a Trump Park Avenue penthouse that was leased at a below-market rent to Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner in 2011.

The attorney general's office has alleged that one of Trump's fraudulent acts involved valuing the Manhattan penthouse at $8.5 million when he offered his daughter and son-in-law an option to purchase the unit.

Trump turned around and valued the same penthouse at more than $20 million in net-worth statements he issued to banks for the years 2011 and 2012.

"It was an updated agreement between Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to rent penthouse 28 in 2011," Kidder said when shown the lease and purchase option on the courtroom screen facing the witness stand.

Kidder was asked about the document because she was the one who forwarded an updated copy of the agreement to Ivanka Trump, who then forwarded it on to Kushner, an email chain showed.

Deep in the testimony weeds

Trump sat through some penny-ante testimony, too.

"It's the general ledger for 40 Wall Street LLC for 2013," Kidder answered, when asked by Eric R. Haren, special counsel to James, to identify the Excel spreadsheet on the screens.

Kidder was asked why an $8,333-a-month management fee listed in an internal 2013 expense and revenue spreadsheet for the skyscraper had not been included in a cash-flow report used to get a loan from Ladder Capital.

Her answer for this and similar questions was that former Allen Weisselberg told her it was OK to shuffle some "affiliated expenses" from "one pocket to another."

A few minutes later, Kise, who had been conferring with his client in whispers, interrupted the questioning.

"I'm not sure what any of this has to do with what we're here for," complained Kise,who's on a $3 million retainer and leading Trump's New York and DC defense teams.

"I'm getting an understanding from the witness who prepared the spreadsheet," Haren protested.

"If he could tie it up at some point?" Kise suggested.

Haren was told by the judge to move things along.

The judge has told both sides to be prepared to be on trial until the week before Christmas.

This story is being updated to reflect Tuesday's ongoing testimony.

Read the original article on Business Insider