[News] Executive at Donald Trump’s company says 'presidential premium' was floated to boost bottom line

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s top corporate deputies considered adding a “presidential premium” when calculating the value of his Trump Tower penthouse, Mar-a-Lago resort and other assets during his White House years, a gambit that would’ve padded his net worth by nearly $145 million, an executive at the former president’s company testified Friday.

Trump Organization Assistant Vice President Patrick Birney said at Trump’s New York civil fraud trial that they ended up scrapping the idea, but state lawyers contend that merely going through the exercise underscores how Trump and his underlings were intent on finding ways to puff up his net worth.

Trump was expected to return to court for the trial next week when fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen was scheduled to take the witness stand, though Cohen said late Friday that he needed to attend to a medical condition that might delay the showdown. Cohen said he would testify “at the earliest opportunity.”

Birney was testifying at the end of the second week of a non-jury trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud lawsuit. He is the third Trump Organization executive to take the witness stand, following former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and Senior Vice President and former Controller Jeffrey McConney.