Donald Trump rose to political power touting the business acumen he says made him a fortune.

On Monday, the 77-year-old once and potentially future president is expected to take the stand at a civil trial in which he stands accused of fraudulently inflating those famous assets to advance his real estate empire.

Trump's son Eric says he is "very fired up" ahead of his testimony — due to begin at 10:00 a.m. (1500 GMT) — before New York judge Arthur Engoron, with whom the Republican has had a fractious relationship since the trial opened last month. 

Just as he has insulted the judges overseeing his four criminal trials, Trump has called Engoron "unhinged" and a "Trump-hating, radical left, Democrat operative."

Engoron has responded by slapping Trump with two fines — one for $5,000, another for $10,000 — when he ruled the onetime reality television star had violated a partial gag order imposed after he bashed the judge's clerk on social media. 

Trump has been heard twice in connection with this case — on 10 August 2022 and again on 13 April of this year. 

In excerpts from the first deposition, he called the proceedings "the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country," and called New York state Attorney General Letitia James an "out of control prosecutor."

Fraud

The bench trial — there is no jury, and the judge will decide on his own — is just one of a long line of legal troubles for the candidate who is currently the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner, according to opinion polls.

So far, two of his children — Donald Jr and Eric — have testified, along with executives from the Trump Organization, a conglomerate that manages skyscrapers, luxury hotels, and golf clubs around the world. 

Even before opening arguments, Engoron ruled that James' office had already shown "conclusive evidence" that Trump had overstated his net worth on financial documents by between $812 million and $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.