Former President Donald Trump made his first appearance in court in over a month as his attorneys wrapped up their defense in a fraud trial against him. Trump, who is one of the two remaining defense witnesses, returned to New York County Supreme Court on Thursday to watch testimony intended to bolster his defense. This marked his first courtroom appearance since his chaotic day on the witness stand on November 6th.

As the trial entered its 10th week, Trump sat with his attorneys inside Judge Arthur Engoron's courtroom in lower Manhattan. During a morning break, Trump took a moment to chat with two courtroom sketch artists who were capturing the inside of the no-photos-allowed courtroom. The artists, hired by news organizations, received his approval, but Trump jokingly remarked that he needed to lose some weight as he gestured to his neck.

Using the court as an extension of his campaign, Trump has taken the opportunity to criticize his political rivals and the judges and prosecutors overseeing his multiple criminal and civil cases. On Wednesday, he skipped the GOP presidential primary debate and held a makeshift press conference outside the courtroom on Thursday to rage against the case, the judge, and the attorney general. In an email from his campaign, he falsely claimed to be "forced into a courtroom in New York City to defend himself" and labeled the trial a "witch hunt" and "election interference."

Inside the court, Trump's attorneys introduced a defense witness, Eli Bartov, a New York University accounting professor. Bartov testified that he went through the attorney general's complaint "allegation by allegation" to find some proof to support their claims. He stated that any errors in accounting were inadvertent and that there was no evidence of accounting fraud. Bartov became defensive when a lawyer for the attorney general suggested that he was being paid to say what Trump's team wanted. He snapped back, stating that he was there to tell the truth.

Trump appeared relatively relaxed and satisfied following Bartov's testimony, having spent weeks dismissing the trial as bogus. Bartov's testimony echoed Trump's own rhetoric and made it apparent that the former president attended his day of testimony to draw media attention to the courtroom. The small group of reporters who have been covering the case made up the majority of the courtroom crowd.

Trump is scheduled to return to court on Monday to testify for the second and final time as his legal team wraps up its defense. The trial, which threatens his family business and its real estate empire, is expected to conclude next week, with a final judgment likely to be issued by the end of January. Thursday's appearance also marked Trump's first time in court since a gag order was upheld by an appeals court. The gag order prevents him from disparaging court staff, and his attempt to appeal to the state's highest court was denied.

The lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Trump and his two oldest sons of defrauding financial institutions with inflated estimates of his net worth and assets over a decade. Judge Engoron has already found the defendants liable for fraud, and the trial will determine the damages they could face. The attorney general's claims against the defendants include insurance fraud and conspiracy. Throughout the trial, the defense team has introduced expert witnesses to testify about the Trump Organization's business practices, including how Trump created statements of financial condition provided to banks and lenders and the artistic nature of property valuations in those documents.