hello, i m dana bash with wolf blitzer in washington. a historic courtroom clash. right now former president donald trump is testifying in his own defense in his new york civil fraud trial, and within minutes of trump taking the stand, a battle with the judge quickly unfolded. judge arthur engoron accused trump of making long-winded speeches, the judge told defense attorneys, i beseech you to control him, if you can. if you can t, i will. the former president of the united states is accused of inflating the value of his various properties by billions of dollars to acquire loan and insurance benefits, and the stakes for trump are high right now. he potentially could lose his certificate to do business in new york, and pay very hefty fines, in the millions and millions of dollars. cnn s kaitlan collins is just outside the courthouse, long with chief correspondent paula reid. paula, what are we hearing from trump s testimony so far today? has it been smoother this hour? repo
hello. i m dana bash with wolf blitzer in washington. it is the top of the hour and we re tracking this historic and chaotic donald trump testimony in new york. the former president is taking the stand in his own defense, facing a civil fraud trial that could determine his future as a businessman and his political prospects. court is in recess for lunch. so far, trump has been on the stand for nearly three hours. and, dana, he s used much of that time to filibuster and rail against the judge, and that s very significant. trump keeps attacking and disobeying the judge, even though the fate of trump s family business is in that judge s hands. there is no jury in this civil trial. we have cnn s indkate kaitlan collins outside the courthouse. bring us up to speed the testimony that has gone on and what we anticipate. reporter: yeah, wolf, it has been tense, to say the least, inside that courtroom. there was a brief period where the judge was not as frustrated with trump as he
hello, i m wolf blitzer, alongside dana bash. we re here in washington. moments from now, donald trump will be back under oath after a historic and heated day in the new york civil fraud trial against him, after two impeachments and multiple lawsuits and depositions, the former president is defending himself on the stand for the first time. within minutes, trump was accused of making speeches, and later he insulted the new york attorney general and he publicly criticized the judge in this case. the judge has already found that trump and his eldest sons committed what were described as, quote, persistent and repeated fraud, by inflating certain property values to acquire loans and insurance benefits. now judge arthur engoron is trying to figure out what damages the trumps should pay. he spent much of the morning admonishing trump for, quote, long-winded answers and not answering the questions being asked to him, even telling trump s attorney at one point to, quote, i beseech
this is cnn breaking news. welcome back to the special live coverage. you are looking right now at inside of the courtroom. donald trump sitting down with his attorneys as you are getting just consider it like a pool spray. we have seen it in other moments and the cameras are allowed in for a moment to kind of scene set each day in the courtroom. this is donald trump moments before he is set to take the stand and be under oath to take questioning from the judge in this civil fraud trial in new york. as he was entering court a moment ago, he spoke to the reporters and cameras in the hallway, and he attacked the case, he attacked the judge and he attacked attorney general and then made a campaign speech. now, what happens next could decide him as a businessman and business empire, and also impact his presidential aspirations, and the other criminal cases where he is a defendant. yeah, and again, those pictures that you are looking at, and what is different this time, he is
donald trump is now counting on those three as portrayed by snl in his new york fraud trial. and today he whined, leave my children alone, like they were toddlers on a playground. and today donald trump jr. took the witness stand for the first time, answering questions about his role in the alleged scheme to falsely inflate the trump organization s assets. eric and ivanka are waiting in the wings. also tonight, arizona secretary of state adrian fontes joins me on set following his testimony today before a senate committee on the on going right wing threat to free and fair elections. and to election workers. but we begin tonight with new speaker of the house mike johnson s first official day at work. now that the people s house is back in session. we ve already established that johnson is an ultra right wing kris man nationalist who will probably push a nationwide abortion ban. but for the time being, the priority is recrimination and votes on dualing censure resolut