Trump civil fraud case: Judge fines Trump $354M, says frauds 'shock the conscience'

Court concluded for the day with a threat from Judge Engoron to expand the trial's limited gag order to include attorneys, after a clash between the judge and defense counsel.

The judge had previously issued the partial gag order prohibiting defendants from making public comments about his staff, after former President Trump posted online about Engoron's law clerk.

After defense attorney Chris Kise suggested potential bias from the bench, Engoron told him, "Do not refer to my law clerk again."

"Sometimes I think there might be a bit of misogyny," Engoron told Kise.

"I have the right to make points on the record," Kise responded. "If there is bias in the proceedings, I have the right to raise that."

Engoron, pounding on the bench, shouted into his microphone that Kise had no right to hear conversations between the judge and his clerk.

"I have an absolute, unfettered right to get advice from my principal law clerk," Engoron said.

Court is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning when Eric Trump returns to the stand.

Eric Trump confidently stood by his past testimony regarding his limited involvement in an appraisal during a heated exchange with state attorney Andrew Amer.

Amer had spent the better part of the afternoon highlighting emails between Eric Trump and a Cushman & Wakefield appraiser, suggesting that Eric Trump was deeply involved in the appraisal of an estate and golf course in New York's Westchester County. Attempting to paint the testimony as inconsistent, Amer played another portion the deposition Eric Trump had given to investigators.

"I pour concrete. I operate properties. I don't focus on appraisals between a law firm and Cushman. It's just not what I do in my day-to-day responsibilities," Eric Trump said in the deposition.

"Will you concede that your testimony ... that you really haven't been involved in appraisal work on this property was incorrect?" Amer then asked Eric Trump on the stand.

"No. I really hadn't been involved with appraisal work on that property," Eric Trump responded. "I was clearly involved to a very small point. I see your emails. One hundred percent. I made phone calls."

When Amer continued to press the issue, Donald Trump's attorney Chris Kise loudly objected.

"Are you running the courtroom, or is the judge?" Kise shouted to Amer. "It's asked and answered, asked and answered, asked and answered, and it's continued all afternoon. At some point it needs to end."

"There are a handful of emails well over ten years ago ... I stick by that 100%" Eric Trump said.

Eric Trump denied that he ignored a professional appraisal that would have significantly lowered the value of his family's Seven Springs estate in New York's Westchester County.

State attorney Andrew Amer attempted to show Eric Trump multiple emails and calendar invites from 2014 and 2015 to demonstrate that he was personally involved in an appraisal by Cushman & Wakefield executive David McArdle that placed the total value of the property's undeveloped lots between $30 and $50 million.

Trump's 2014 financial statement, in contrast, valued the property at $291 million, including $161 for just seven of the undeveloped lots.

"Can we agree that Mr. McArdle's valuation in relation to the easement donation he was doing was disregarded?" Amer asked.

"No, the exercises are apples and oranges. Nothing to do with each other," Eric Trump responded.

Eric Trump grew visibly irritated as he appeared to struggle with his testimony regarding his father's statement of financial condition.

Resisting state attorney Andrew Amer's efforts to show he was familiar with the document at the center of the case, he at times raised his voice and punctuated his short answers with phrases like "obviously," "clearly," and "as I previously testified." Other times he responded with lengthy equivocations, prompting Amer to exhort him to keep his answers to "yes or no."

"You don't have to give a speech about that," Judge Engoron implored Eric Trump at one point.

Amer repeatedly asked variations of the same question: Was Eric Trump aware of his father's statement of financial condition?

"This is not something I ever recall seeing or working on," Eric Trump said in one clip from his deposition that was played in court. "This is accounting, and that is not what I do on a daily basis."