On a dramatic day in court in lower Manhattan, Donald Trump appeared on the witness stand for the first time in his multitude of civil and criminal trials.
The former president was called to testify after remarks he made outside the courtroom in a break from his civil fraud trial in New York appeared to break a gag order imposed by New York Judge Arthur Engoron.
All parties are forbidden from speaking or posting about members of the court staff, after Mr Trump posted false claims and a photopraph of the court’s chief clerk earlier this month. On Wednesday, he appeared to hit out at her again: “This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps more partisan than he is.”
The former president claimed he had been speaking about witness Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, now a witness in the case against him. The judge found Mr Trump’s testimony “not credible” and fined him $10,000.
Later, when a move for a directed verdict by his legal team was denied by the judge, a clearly frustrated Mr Trump stood and left the courtroom mumbling: “Unbelievable. Unbelievable.”