Donald Trump exclaimed: "I wanted to watch this witch hunt for myself!"

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Former US President Donald Trump came to the court to attend the trial against him for "defrauding numerous individuals and institutions in the real estate industry for years", arguing that the case was "politically motivated".

Trump, who voluntarily attended the hearing on the first day of the trial, which started at the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, sat in the defense box and listened to the presentations of the prosecution and his lawyers.

Kevin Wallace, a lawyer for the Attorney General's office, made the opening statement in the case, stating that Trump and his family have lied for years about real estate values in the real estate industry.

Wallace noted that Trump's company made 100s of millions of dollars in loan purchases by overvaluing real estate and said, "They hid their weaknesses and convinced these banks to take hundreds of millions of dollars in risk. The defendants can exaggerate for Forbes magazine or on television, but they can't do that when they're doing business in New York."

Trump's lead attorney Christopher Kise also argued that there was no objective assessment of real estate prices, saying, "Any difference in values does not amount to fraud. The statements in the financial statements are estimates and the lending banks have to do their own analysis."

Kise emphasized that no one was harmed by Trump's financial statements and that both sides gained by repaying the loans taken from the banks.

"I WANTED TO WATCH THIS WITCH HUNT FOR MYSELF"

Speaking to the cameras during the lunch break for the day-long hearing, Trump criticized Attorney General Letitie James and Judge Arthur Engoron.
Claiming that James' allegations against him, his family and his companies were "politically motivated," Trump said, "If I hadn't run for president again, if I hadn't been leading in the polls, none of these cases would have happened."

Stating that he came to the hearing by saying, "I wanted to watch this witch hunt for myself," Trump said, "This is a pure witch hunt to interfere with the US elections. This is completely illegal."

Describing Judge Engoron as a "democrat" and an "agent", Trump said, "This is a judge who should be removed from office. This is a judge who some say can be impeached for what he did. We're going to be here for months with a judge who has already ruled on the case. This is ridiculous."

Trump also argued that the ongoing case came from the Justice Department, saying, "They are coordinating this entirely in Washington. Everything is run by the corrupt Justice Department in Washington. Everything goes through them."

NO PRISON SENTENCE IS FORESEEN AS A RESULT OF THE TRIAL

Trump attended the afternoon session of the trial, where he sat next to his lawyers again and listened to the arguments of the prosecution and defense and witnesses.

Trump's retired accountant Donald Bender testified as the first witness for the prosecution. Bender said that he made all his accounting calculations according to Trump's statement and said, "If I saw something that didn't make sense, if I saw something that bothered me, I would ask them."

As a result of the trial, which is expected to last until mid-December, Judge Engoron will decide how much fines to impose on Trump companies and whether to revoke their licenses to do business in New York state.