While testifying in his defense in New York State AG Letitia James’s $250 million lawsuit against his father’s corrupt business empire at approximately 12:21 PM on Monday, Donald Trump Jr told the defense lawyers that the Trump brand’s first big licensing deal, the Trump International Hotel in Waikiki, was one of the “most successful” real estate projects in the Aloha State’s history and the owners “understood that they would be closing with the best real estate in the market, no question.”
This was just over three hours after CNN reported that the property’s owners, Irongate, had reached a “mutual agreement for a significant buyout of the hotel management and license agreement” with the Trump Org to end the deal and reopen as the “Wākea Waikiki Beach” as part of the “Hilton LXR” portfolio in February 2024. One of the state’s lawyers later pointed this out during the cross-exam.