The moments Trump lost it on the witness stand at his NYC fraud trial

NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s historic testimony at his Manhattan fraud trial went off the rails just minutes after it started Monday morning. By the lunch break, Judge Arthur Engoron had reprimanded the former president nearly a dozen times for being long-winded, disrespectful or just plain nasty.

Here are five highlights from the often contentious testimony and moments when Trump exploded on the stand.

Judge tries to rein Trump in

Trump’s highly anticipated testimony took a bad turn less than an hour in, when a clearly annoyed Engoron repeatedly asked Trump’s attorney, Chris Kise, to rein him in after Trump answered questions with his signature long-winded rants.

“Mr. Kise, can you control your client? This is not a political rally,” a fed-up Engoran said. “I’ve asked several times to answer the question. … I don’t want editorializing. … Maybe you should have a talk with him, right now.”

“This is a very unfair trial — very, very — and I hope the public is watching,” Trump chimed in from the witness stand.

“I beseech you to control him if you can,” Engoron said to Kise. “If you can’t, I will. I will excuse him and draw every negative inference that I can.”

Trump insults his accusers

Trump took the opportunity to slam state Attorney General Letitia James in person — she was sitting just a few yards from the former president in the courtroom.

“She’s a political hack,” Trump yelled. “… The fraud is her!”

Trump also told state lawyer Kevin Wallace that “people like you” try to hurt and demean him.

Trump’s argument that a “disclaimer clause” gets him off the hook for mistakes in financial statements that he verified frustrated Engoron, as Trump has already been found liable for fraud and a decision was made on the disclaimer clause before the trial.

“No, no, no. We’re not going to hear about the disclaimer clause,” Engoron said in response. “If you want to hear about the disclaimer clause, read my opinion again, or for the first time, perhaps,” he said sarcastically.

“You’re wrong in your opinion!” Trump responded, calling it a “fraudulent decision.”

Where’s 40 Wall St.?

When Wallace asked questions about 40 Wall St. and its valuation, Trump didn’t give a straight answer, instead saying James “doesn’t even know what 40 Wall St. is.”

His response got a laugh out of James, who — aside from investigating Trump’s stake in the building for around three years — has her office located literally next door.

Later, James mocked Trump on X: “Don’t tell, I can see (40 Wall St.) from my office window,” she wrote, with a finger-on-lips emoji.

Rambling on

When the questions focused on his Aberdeen, Scotland, golf course, Trump raved about the the property, calling it “an artistic expression.”

“It was the greatest golf course ever built. … It’s one of the greatest pieces of land I’ve ever seen,” he said.

At that point, Engoron said if Wallace wanted to let Trump “ramble on,” he’d allow it.

“Aberdeen is the oil capital of Europe, very rich,” Trump continued.

“Irrelevant!” Engoron interjected.

Trump continued under his breath: “It is.”

Trump’s twisted timeline

Trump was asked about his involvement in financial statements regarding his Mar-a-Lago Florida resort in 2021. He said he wasn’t, and that perhaps his sons were, as well as Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffery McConney.

“I was so busy in the White House … my threshold was China, Russia and keeping our country safe,” Trump said, which caused laughter in the courtroom — Trump was no longer president after January 2021.

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(New York Daily News staff writers Molly Crane-Newman and Colin Mixson contributed to this story.)

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