For weeks Donald Trump has railed against a legal case taken by authorities in New York which contends he overstated his wealth for years to the disadvantage of banks and insurance companies dealing with his company.
Trump has denounced the civil action as “a hoax” and a “politically motivated sham”, described Letitia James, the New York attorney general who brought the case – and who is black – as “a racist” and hit out at the judge as a “disgrace to the legal profession”.
The former president has already been fined twice by the judge for comments he has made and was banned from making remarks about court personnel.
This followed a social media post in which he alleged that a female court official was the “girlfriend” of Chuck Schumer, the Democrat who is the majority leader in the US Senate.
The senator’s office described the allegation as absurd.
The former president has argued that the case should be dismissed following apparent contradictions in the testimony of one of the chief witnesses against him, his former fixer-turned-opponent Michael Cohen.
On Monday, Trump will take the stand to give evidence in person with many observers expecting fireworks given all that has gone before.
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The case in New York is a civil matter. Unlike in the four criminal cases in which he has been charged, he is not facing jail.
But Trump has taken time away from the campaign trail – where he is the front-runner to secure the Republican Party nomination for the presidency – as well as from dealing with his other legal troubles, to attend court in New York on several occasions.
The case obviously means a lot to him. It goes to the heart of the image he has cultivated for decades of a rich, successful businessman.
At its core, the New York case has questioned whether Trump really is as wealthy as he says he is.
Losing the case could also have catastrophic consequences for Trump’s family business.
The case of the New York attorney general is that Trump overstated his wealth for years on financial statements that were given to banks, insurers and others, to help secure loans and deals.
Cohen testified last month that he had manipulated the values of Trump’s properties to match the figures that the former president wanted.
“He would say: I’m actually not worth $4.5 billion, I’m really worth more like 6 (billion),” Cohen said.
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However, Cohen later came under pressure from the defence over previous statements in which he said Trump had not directed him to inflate values.
Trump said this contradiction should be sufficient to have the case against him thrown out. He also contended that his financial statement contained disclaimers and that the banks and insurance companies that did business with the Trump organisation, rather than being defrauded, all made money.
“There is no victim, except me”, he said.
If Trump, his sons and company are found liable, they could face a $250 million fine and be barred from running a business in New York.
And in the background to the case, there is an ongoing row between Judge Arthur Engeron and Trump’s team over the role of the court clerk. The former president has asserted that she is biased against him.
Trump’s lawyers have complained about communications between the judge and the court official – suggesting that there was “co-judging” taking place. The judge has insisted he absolutely has the right to communicate with court staff.
On Friday the judge extended the gag order he had put in place. He banned the lawyers from making public statements, in or out of court, about his private communications with his clerk, including their conversations and notes.
He again said that he was concerned about danger to his staff and maintained that his chambers had been “inundated with hundreds of harassing and threatening phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters and packages” since the trial began.