Donald Trump's lawyers hit out at a professor while he was on the witness stand at the former president's civil fraud trial, using online reviews as a weapon.
Eric Lewis was grilled by Trump lawyer Jesus Suarez in court this week. Suarez used reviews from the website "Rate My Professors," which included some particularly harsh assessments of Lewis, an accounting lecturer at Cornell University, from purported former students.
Suarez asked Lewis directly: "Are you aware that your students describe you as the worst professor in the Cornell accounting program?" Lewis is reported to have laughed at the comments and defended his record.
Exchanges in the court were heated, with Trump's legal team in going against Lewis' assessment that Trump was responsible for reviewing financial statements and their accuracy.
"I probably have more experience in the practice of accounting than this witness," Trump attorney Chris Kise said.
Lewis has a Ph.D. from 1995 in engineering systems with a concentration in accounting and Kise asked him if he had "any other real-world experience." Lewis said he did not.
Trump's lawyers objected over 13 times during the hour-long testimony, but Judge Arthur Engoron eventually qualified Lewis as an expert in accounting.
On the Rate My Professor website, a student accused Lewis' lectures of lacking "any useful content for assignments or professionally," but admits later on in the review that they "skipped most lectures." Another said Lewis is a "tough grader," while one student claimed homework assignments are "tedious" and that he is a "very bad lecturer."
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 has approached Lewis for comment via an email to his department at Cornell.
Other comments on the site say Lewis is "engaging" and an "outstanding teacher." One comment read: "Amazing professor, really cares about his students and passionate about teaching. Weaves real-world examples and funny stories into lecture to keeps things interesting."
The exchanges in court wrapped up the last day in the trial, leading Engoron to declare he will miss it "in a strange way."
Engoron has already ruled Trump committed fraud after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a $250 million suit. The suit says the Trump Organization greatly exaggerated the value of some of its assets, including properties in New York and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and deceived lenders in doing so.
James is seeking to ban Trump from doing business in New York at all. Trump says the suit is politically motivated.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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