Donald Trump Wanted to Keep This Video Deposition Secret. We Got a Copy. (David Corn)

[Nevilledog]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/09/donald-trump-university-fraud-lawsuit-deposition-full-video/

During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump was burdened with lawsuits that accused him and his Trump University of defrauding students who had paid thousands of dollars to learn the supposed secrets of Trump’s financial success. Though the Trump U controversy raised questions about Trump’s fitness for office, he managed to score two legal victories in the case as it proceeded. He won a postponement in the trial until after Election Day, and he managed to seal the video of a six-hour deposition he gave in the case. That meant voters would not see news reports of Trump on the stand in a federal civil fraud case or be able to watch this footage of Trump being questioned concerning allegations of fraud. But Mother Jones has now obtained the full video of Trump’s deposition, and though the written transcript of the session was released in June 2016, the video version includes several exchanges that likely would not have played well for Trump had they become public when he was chasing votes.

Trump sat for this deposition in Trump Tower on December 10, 2015. The video shows him parrying with the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Jason Forge, over various issues, including false statements made by Trump University employees, and Trump’s own memory. Trump at one point griped, “It’s the most ridiculous lawsuit I’ve ever seen.” He claimed not to remember having boasted that he possessed one of the best memories in the world and repeatedly said he could not recall matters related to the case. He downplayed false and misleading statements presented by Trump University instructors as merely “hyperbole,” refusing to label them “false.” He even disavowed a passage from one of his own books in which he had assailed educational institutions for committing “fraud.” Had the video deposition been released during the campaign, it may have yielded ammo for anti-Trump ads. At the start of the deposition, Trump’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, said he and Trump did not want the transcript “getting into the hands of the media.” Regarding the video, they succeeded.

Mother Jones was provided the video by a source who asked not to be identified. Art Cohen, a lead plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Trump University and Trump, confirmed that this was the actual video of the deposition. “On this video, Trump’s shifty memory and dishonest character are exposed when he is faced with questions that demand the truth,” Cohen says. (Last month, Mother Jones posted video of a conversation that occurred during a break in these proceedings between Trump and Petrocelli, in which Trump boasted of threatening the Better Business Bureau to change the D grade it awarded Trump University to an A.)

*snip*


Rest of article goes through different topic with video clips from deposition.

[empedocles]

1. traitortrump is the 'mother lode' in this election

[DonaldsRump]

2. This is hysterical!

Check out the video of the deposition highlights. Trump is clearly not going to do well before a grand jury!

(B/t/w his lawyer is Daniel Petrocelli, the lawyer for Ron Goldman's family in the civil trial against OJ Simpson).

[DeminPennswoods]

5. I recall a TV lawyer show called "Petrocelli"

showing my age.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. People need to watch David Corn's

U tube. Watched it Friday evening,wow,talk about a friggin Gangster speaking,it gets a bit difficult to listen to this POS dodging questions continuously with just plain stonewalling phrases as answers.

Trump tries his best to bullshit his way through this depo and gets agitated as the depo drags out. You can tell when he finally understands he is screwed and his only face saving is to offer up a settlement.

The Guy has zero respect for the Law,zero,he things he is above it and rich people need not be held accountable.

[PatSeg]

15. Oh yes

Listening to him reminded me of testimonies by mafia gangsters, hardly a future president.

[soothsayer]

4. I enjoy watching these in anticipation of more

Plus it looks like they’re on the set of a torture chamber or snuff video.

[Greybnk48]

6. This is riveting. What a fucking liar President Vulgarian is!

He has no contact with reality.

[Grammy23]

7. Watching tRump bob and weave his way through that deposition was interesting.

You can almost see his mind trying to pick his way through his answer to not admit anything. He is a conniving low life who has no idea of the truth. All he knows is he has to try to get himself out of the trap and he’ll gnaw off a leg to do it, if need be. But he’d RATHER gnaw off the questioner’s leg if he can, in order to get away.

[malaise]

8. Notice the glasses

[HipChick]

12. May he bestowed..

With eyestrain bigly for being too vain to wear them..

[malaise]

14. Agree

What an arrogant lying piece of shit

[Sherman A1]

9. Thanks for posting

I just can’t watch this piece of slime.

[Solly Mack]

10. K&R

[kentuck]

11. That is a helpful insight to Trump's brain.

Thanks!

[smirkymonkey]

13. Kicking for later viewing!

Watched a little bit of it, what little I could take. He is such a lying, arrogant POS!

[Nevilledog]

19. Yeah...slightly more tolerable in small doses.

[PatSeg]

16. Someone needs to explain to Donald

that if something is not true, it is a LIE, not hyperbole. Of course, he doesn't think there is anything wrong with lying.

[kentuck]

17. He did not like being asked questions by the young prosecutor or whomever was grilling him.

He was very well-prepared with his lawyer.

I'm not surprised they ruled against him and he had to pay about $25 million in damages and shut down Trump University.

However, that was after he skimmed about $75 million from the suckers who paid for it. He still came out ahead.

[nolabear]

18. ...