Donald Trump Jr. Admits Business Made a 'Mistake'

Donald Trump Jr. returned to the witness stand on Monday in his father's $250 million civil fraud case and admitted to a business "mistake".

The trial stems from a lawsuit filed last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleging that Donald Trump and top executives at his family company, The Trump Organization, conspired to increase his net worth by billions of dollars on financial statements provided to banks and insurers to make deals and secure loans. Trump, front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, testified last week and has denied any wrongdoing and has called the trial politically motivated. Eric and Donald Trump Jr., senior executives of The Trump Organization, are also accused of assisting the former president and have testified in the trial stating they barely had any involvement with the annual financial statements of the company, which they had signed. Instead, they said they relied on the accounting firm they had hired.

Trump Jr.'s second testimony on Monday has been underway as he is being pressed on his role in his family's organization, specifically after Trump entered the Oval Office in 2017 and handed off management of his company to his adult sons.

According to Inner City Press, who is in the courtroom, when asked to explain the corporate structure of the company, Trump Jr. said, pre-presidency, that his father didn't like to travel internationally, so he and his siblings gradually assumed more responsibility for hotels overseas and even domestic licensing deals.

Trump Jr. continued to disclose that when his father became president, his family limited its international licensing business, a move he said was a mistake, according to Inner City Press and Forbes. "In retrospect, that was probably a mistake," Trump Jr. said.

Newsweek has reached out to the Trump Organization via email for comment.

"Don Jr: When my father became president, we dropped our int'l licensing. Probably a mistake, because people said we were still doing it. We protected the projects that were underway. Trump lawyer: How would you describe the structure now? Don Jr. My brother & I," Inner City Press wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

According to former litigator and MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin, who is also at the New York courtroom detailing Trump Jr.'s testimony, he says when he and his siblings took over more responsibilities in the company, they gave up their international licensing "for the sake of optics."

"And over time, as they brought in more projects, the more autonomy they got. Then, as of 2017, they gave up their international licensing business 'for the sake of optics,' which had been a big part of his portfolio," Rubin wrote on X of Trump Jr.'s testimony.

Trump Jr. has worked on a number of projects, including the West Side Yards redevelopment in Manhattan, and led the development of Trump Park Avenue, which has come under scrutiny amid the civil trial.

He also oversaw the construction, financing and development of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, was involved in the development of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas and built Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen, Scotland.

He also "spearheaded" several international properties, including four in India and one in Canada, according to his company biography.