Donald Trump’s lawyers attacked a professor while he was on the witness stand in the former president’s civil fraud trial, using online reporting as a weapon.
Eric Lewis was questioned through Trump’s lawyer, Jesus Suarez, in court this week. Suarez used a complaint from the website “Rate My Professors,” which included harsh evaluations of Lewis, an accounting professor at Cornell University, by alleged alumni.
Suarez asked Lewis directly, “Do you know that your academics describe you as the worst professor in Cornell’s accounting program?Lewis reportedly laughed off the comments and defended his record.
The exchanges in court were heated, with Trump’s legal team objecting to Lewis’ assessment that Trump was guilty of reviewing the financial statements and their accuracy.
“I enjoy the accounting practice more than this witness,” said Trump’s lawyer, Chris Kise.
Lewis has a Ph. D. since 1995 in Systems Engineering with a concentration in Accounting and was asked by Kise if he had “any real-world experience. “Lewis said no.
Trump’s lawyers objected more than thirteen times to the hour-long testimony, but Judge Arthur Engoron eventually called Lewis an accounting expert.
On the online page Rate My Professor, one student accused Lewis’s categories of omitting “any content useful for assignments or professionally,” but later admitted in the magazine that they “skipped maximum categories. “Another said Lewis was a “difficult evaluator,” while one student claimed the assignments were “tedious” and that he was a “very bad teacher. “
Students on the site do not go through rigorous vetting before they are able to make a comment on their teacher, so the accuracy of the statements is arguably limited.
Newsweek reached out to Lewis to send an email to its branch in Cornell.
Other comments on the site say Lewis is “attractive” and an “outstanding teacher. “One comment read: “An amazing teacher, he truly cares about his students and is passionate about teaching. She includes real-life examples and funny stories in her classes to stay. “interesting stuff. “
The exchanges in court concluded on the final day of the trial, prompting Engoron to claim that he was going to miss the trial “in a way. “
Engoron has already ruled that Trump committed fraud after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a $250 million lawsuit. The lawsuit says the Trump Organization particularly exaggerated the value of some of its assets, adding homes in New York City and its Mar-a-Lago property. in Florida and thus deceived the lenders.
James is seeking to ban Trump from doing business in New York at all. Trump says the suit is politically motivated.
Benjamin Lynch is a journalist for Newsweek in London, UK. He focuses on U. S. politics and domestic affairs and reports on issues such as executions to death, U. S. foreign policy, and the most recent developments in Congress, among others. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2023, Benjamin worked as a journalist in the United States, around the world, and in the United Kingdom for the Daily Mirror and reported extensively on topics such as the plight of Afghan refugees and cases of prisoners on death row.
Benjamin had worked in the past for the Daily Star and the famous magazine Index on Censorship after graduating from Liverpool John Moores University. You can reach Benjamin by emailing b. lynch@newsweek. com and staying with him at X@ben_lynch99.
English language