"The people call Donald J. Trump," state attorney Kevin Wallace said.

With that, Donald Trump rose from his seat, made the short walk from the counsel table to the witness stand, and took a seat.

To his immediate right sits Judge Arthur Engoron and his clerk Allison Greenfield, who Trump has repeatedly criticized as biased. Directly across from him and in eyeshot is New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sits in the courtroom's gallery with her eyes fixed on the former president.

Trump, wearing a tailored navy blue suit, blue dress shirt, and blue tie, sits slightly slouched in the witness box.

"Please raise your right hand," a court officer advised Trump. "Do you solemnly swear or affirm that any testimony you give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"

"I do," Trump said with his hand raised.

New York Attorney General Letitia James briefly conferred with her team of lawyers in court this morning before taking her seat in the gallery.

Before entering the courtroom, James predicted that Trump will likely engage in "name calling, taunts, [and] race baiting" to distract from his testimony.

"Before he takes the stand, I am certain that he will engage in name calling, taunts, race baiting, and call this a witch hunt," James told reporters. "But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters are the facts and the numbers, and numbers, my friends, don't lie."

Senior Enforcement Counsel Kevin Wallace of the New York attorney general's office will lead the direct examination of Donald Trump when the former president takes the stand this morning.

Wallace led the depositions of Trump during the New York attorney general's investigation and also delivered the state's opening statement in the trial.

"The defendants were lying year after year," Wallace said in his opening statement.

A constant presence in court during the trial, Wallace joined the New York AG's office in 2018 after working in the private sector for 15 years.

Wallace and Trump sparred for hours during Trump's April deposition, according to a transcript of the deposition that was subsequently released by the AG's office.

"We're going to be here until midnight if your client answers every question with an eight-minute speech," Wallace remarked after one of Trump's lengthier answers.

Wallace tried to press Trump on spreadsheets that Wallace displayed during the deposition, promoting frequent objections from Trump's lawyers.

"Oh my God -- are you people capable of reading a spreadsheet?" an exasperated Wallace said after one objection from Trump's attorney Chris Kise.

Donald Trump's motorcade has arrived at the New York State Supreme Courthouse in lower Manhattan.

Court is scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m. ET, with Trump scheduled as the day's only witness.

Judge Engoron has denied a motion from the New York attorney general to preclude four expert witnesses from testifying for the defense when the defense presents it case starting on Monday.

The state had sought to preclude the four experts' testimony on the grounds that, following the testimony of the state's witnesses, the four defense witnesses were no longer relevant to the case.

"You've won the battle. We'll see if you win the war," Engoron told defense attorney Chris Kise -- though he warned Kise that he would cut off the witnesses if they try to debate facts already established in the case.

In making his ruling, Engoron reiterated his finding from his earlier summary judgment order that Donald Trump made at least ten internally contradictory claims in his statements of financial condition.

"You can't have a correct statement with these kinds of errors," Engoron said.

Kise told the court that Donald Trump Jr. will be the first witness to testify in the defense's case on Monday.

"Oh, I know him," Engoron deadpanned after the announcement.

It will mark Trump Jr.'s return to the witness box after the state put him on the stand last week.