Ex-Trump accountant testifies he withheld key financial documents

Although former President Donald Trump is facing four criminal indictments, it was a civil case that inspired some of his angriest comments in early October: New York State Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud lawsuit.

Justice Arthur Engoron, presiding over the case, has agreed with James' allegation that the Trump Organization seriously exaggerated the value of its real estate assets. Now, with a bench trial underway, it's a question of what type of sanctions and penalties will be imposed.

Outside the courtroom, a furious Trump railed against James and told reporters, "This trial is a rigged trial. This is a fraudulent trial. The attorney general is a fraud, and we have to expose her as that. You see what's going on; this is a rigged deal."

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One of the witnesses in James' case is Donald Bender, a former Trump accountant. The conservative Washington Examiner reports that on Tuesday, October 3, Bender testified "that his client withheld documents from him."

The Examiner's Jack Birle explains, "Bender claimed in court that he discovered, at one point, that Trump and other people within the Trump Organization were not providing all relevant documents when he was putting together the former president's financial statements, per NBC News. The former Trump accountant testified in court that the former president had failed to provide 'paper documents over a number of years,' per the outlet."

Birle adds that on Tuesday, October 3, Bender testified that Trump and Allen Weisselberg — who was the Trump Organization's chief financial officer at the time — sent him letters saying they had "not knowingly withheld from you any financial records or related data that, in our judgment, would be relevant to your compilation."

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Read the Washington Examiner's full report at this link.