4:40 pm ET, November 1, 2023
The attorney general’s office is going through Dan Jr.’s various roles in the Trump Organization
From CNN’s Lauren Del Valle, Cara Scannell and Jeremy Herb
When Donald Trump Jr. took the stand Wednesday afternoon, Assistant Attorney General Colin Faherty spent his first hour fielding questions about the former president’s son’s roles and responsibilities in the Trump Organization and as trustee of his father’s revocable trust created when he entered. White House.
Faherty has enjoyed Trump Jr.’s rise to prominence in the Trump Organization since 2001. He confirmed that he has been the executive vice president since at least 2011.
Trump Jr. complained to his father until 2017, when Donald Trump took office, and former Trump Organization chief financial officer Alan Weiselberg said he would have been his senior until at least 2013.
Trump Jr. and his brother Eric were equal positions in the company, but stuck in their own “pits.” (Eric Trump is scheduled to testify later this week.)
Trump Jr. said he did not know the details of Weiselberg’s departure, but that the former CFO did not retire and that it was related to “legal issues that he got himself into.”
Trump’s eldest son also confirmed that he was named trustee of his father’s revocable trust after Trump took office. Weiselberg and Trump Jr. were appointed trustees in 2017. Weiselberg was removed as a trustee after he left the company in 2021.
His son said the former president has made some decisions at the company since leaving office in 2021, but Trump Jr. testified he couldn’t point to anything specific.
He said that Eric Trump is not a trustee of the foundation and that his brother does not have the authority to make decisions on behalf of the foundation.
“He would have had the authority to make decisions within the Trump Organization,” Trump Jr. said, but was not convinced. As a trustee, Trump Jr. said it was his responsibility to act in the best interest of his father, the beneficiary, and he made sure to manage the assets in the trust.
In one of his questions, Faherty asked Trump Jr., “Are you aware of the attorney general’s complaint in this case?” he asked.
“Unclear, yes,” Trump Jr. said after a pause.
