The deaths of Jimmy Buffett and Steve Harwell, Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years, and more news from the week

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Steve Harwell, the former lead singer of the rock group Smash Mouth, died this past Monday. Read about that and more of the week's top national stories here.

Jimmy Buffett, 'Margaritaville' singer who turned beach-bum life into an empire, dies at 76

NEW YORK — Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song "Margaritaville" and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76.

"Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs," a statement posted to Buffett's official website and social media pages said late Friday. "He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many."

The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause of death. Illness had forced him to reschedule concerts in May and Buffett acknowledged in social media posts that he had been hospitalized, but provided no specifics.

"Margaritaville," released on Feb. 14, 1977, quickly took on a life of its own, becoming a state of mind for those "wastin' away," an excuse for a life of low-key fun and escapism for those "growing older, but not up."

The song is the unhurried portrait of a loafer on his front porch, watching tourists sunbathe while a pot of shrimp is beginning to boil. The singer has a new tattoo, a likely hangover and regrets over a lost love. Somewhere there is a misplaced salt shaker.

"What seems like a simple ditty about getting blotto and mending a broken heart turns out to be a profound meditation on the often painful inertia of beach dwelling," Spin magazine wrote in 2021. "The tourists come and go, one group indistinguishable from the other. Waves crest and break whether somebody is there to witness it or not. Everything that means anything has already happened and you're not even sure when."

The song — from the album "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" — spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked at No. 8. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016 for its cultural and historic significance, became a karaoke standard and helped brand Key West, Florida, as a distinct sound of music and a destination known the world over.

"There was no such place as Margaritaville," Buffett told the Arizona Republic in 2021. "It was a made-up place in my mind, basically made up about my experiences in Key West and having to leave Key West and go on the road to work and then come back and spend time by the beach."

The song soon inspired restaurants and resorts, turning Buffett's alleged desire for the simplicity of island life into a multimillion brand. He landed at No. 13 in Forbes' America's Richest Celebrities in 2016 with a net worth of $550 million.

Music critics were never very kind to Buffett or his catalogue, including the sandy beach-side snack bar songs like "Fins," "Come Monday" and "Cheeseburgers in Paradise." But his legions of fans, called "Parrotheads," regularly turned up for his concerts wearing toy parrots, cheeseburgers, sharks and flamingos on their heads, leis around their necks and loud Hawaiian shirts.

"It's pure escapism is all it is," he told the Republic. "I'm not the first one to do it, nor shall I probably be the last. But I think it's really a part of the human condition that you've got to have some fun. You've got to get away from whatever you do to make a living or other parts of life that stress you out. I try to make it at least 50/50 fun to work and so far it's worked out."

His special Gulf Coast mix of country, pop, folk and rock added instruments and tonalities more commonly found in the Caribbean, like steel drums. It was a stew of steelpans, trombones and pedal steel guitar. Buffett's incredible ear for hooks and light grooves were often overshadowed by his lyrics about fish tacos and sunsets.

Rolling Stone, in a review of Buffett's 2020 album "Life on the Flip Side," gave grudging props. "He continues mapping out his surfy, sandy corner of pop music utopia with the chill, friendly warmth of a multi-millionaire you wouldn't mind sharing a tropically-themed 3 p.m. IPA with, especially if his gold card was on the bar when the last round came."

Buffett's evolving brand began in 1985 with the opening of a string of Margaritaville-themed stores and restaurants in Key West, followed in 1987 with the first Margaritaville Café nearby. Over the course of the next two decades, several more of each opened throughout Florida, New Orleans and California.

The brand has since expanded to dozens of categories, including resorts, apparel and footwear for men and women, a radio station, a beer brand, ice tea, tequila and rum, home décor, food items like salad dressing, Margaritaville Crunchy Pimento Cheese & Shrimp Bites and Margaritaville Cantina Style Medium Chunky Salsa, the Margaritaville at Sea cruise line and restaurants, including Margaritaville Restaurant, JWB Prime Steak and Seafood, 5 o'Clock Somewhere Bar & Grill and LandShark Bar & Grill.

There also was a Broadway-bound jukebox musical, "Escape to Margaritaville," a romantic comedy in which a singer-bartender called Sully falls for the far more career-minded Rachel, who is vacationing with friends and hanging out at Margaritaville, the hotel bar where Sully works.

James William Buffett was born on Christmas day 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and raised in the port town of Mobile, Alabama. He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and went from busking the streets of New Orleans to playing six nights a week at Bourbon Street clubs.

He released his first record, "Down To Earth," in 1970 and issued seven more on a regular yearly clip, with his 1974 song "Come Monday" from his fourth studio album "Living and Dying in ¾ Time," peaking at No. 30. Then came "Margaritaville."

He performed on more than 50 studio and live albums, often accompanied by his Coral Reefer Band, and was constantly on tour. He earned two Grammy Award nominations, two Academy of Country Music Awards and a Country Music Association Award.

Buffett was actually in Austin, Texas, when the inspiration struck for "Margaritaville." He and a friend had stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant before she dropped him at the airport for a flight home to Key West, so they got to drinking margaritas.

"And I kind of came up with that idea of this is just like Margarita-ville," Buffett told the Republic. "She kind of laughed at that and put me on the plane. And I started working on it."

He wrote some on the plane and finished it while driving down the Keys. "There was a wreck on the bridge," he said. "And we got stopped for about an hour so I finished the song on the Seven Mile Bridge, which I thought was apropos."

Buffett also was the author of numerous books including "Where Is Joe Merchant?" and "A Pirate Looks At Fifty" and added movies to his resume as co-producer and co-star of an adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's novel "Hoot."

Buffett is survived by his wife, Jane; daughters, Savannah and Sarah; and son, Cameron.

7-year-old finds 2.95-carat diamond at Arkansas park — the 2nd largest found this year

At only 7 years old, Aspen Brown made one of the biggest discoveries of the year at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.

Aspen, of Paragould, Arkansas, unearthed a 2.95-carat brown diamond Sept. 1 at the popular park, where visitors are allowed to hunt for real diamonds.

“She got hot and wanted to sit down for a minute, so she walked over to some big rocks by the fence line,” Aspen’s dad, Luther Brown, said, TXK Today reported. “Next thing I know, she was running to me, saying ‘Dad! Dad! I found one!’”

The brown diamond was the second-largest rock found at the park this year, according to Arkansas State Parks. A 3.29-carat diamond discovered in March by David Anderson is the biggest found this year and the largest since 2021.

Aspen’s rock, which KAIT reported is about the size of a green pea, also features a “sparkling luster,” said Waymon Cox, assistant park superintendent.

“It is a complete crystal, with no broken facets and a small crevice on one side, created when the diamond was formed,” Cox said, KAIT reported. “It’s certainly one of the most beautiful diamonds I’ve seen in recent years.”

The massive brown diamond has received an appropriate name by its discoverer — Aspen Diamond. Aspen’s mom said in a Facebook post her daughter “wrote her name down in the books of being one of the youngest to ever find” a diamond at the park.

More than 35,000 diamonds have been found at Crater of Diamonds by visitors since it became a state park in 1972. The park allows visitors to keep whatever they found.

Crater of Diamonds is in Murfreesboro, about 90 miles southwest of Little Rock.

Proud Boys' Enrique Tarrio gets record 22 years in prison for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy

WASHINGTON — Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison for orchestrating his far-right extremist group’s attack on the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to stop the transfer of presidential power after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

Tarrio’s sentence is the longest so far among more than 1,100 Capitol riot cases, topping the 18-year sentences that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and one-time Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean each received after juries convicted them of seditious conspiracy and other charges.

It comes as the Justice Department prepares to put Trump on trial at the same courthouse in Washington on charges that the then-president illegally schemed to cling to power that he knew had been stripped away by voters.

The Tarrio case — and hundreds of others like it — function as a vivid reminder of the violent chaos fueled by Trump’s lies around the election and the extent to which his false claims helped inspire right-wing extremists who ultimately stormed the Capitol to thwart the peaceful transfer of power.

Rising to speak before the sentence was handed down, Tarrio pleaded for leniency, describing Jan. 6 as a “national embarrassment,” and apologizing to the police officers who defended the Capitol and the lawmakers who fled in fear. His voice cracked as he expressed remorse for letting down his family and vowed that he is done with politics.

“I am not a political zealot. Inflicting harm or changing the results of the election was not my goal,” Tarrio said.

“Please show me mercy,” he said, adding, “I ask you that you not take my 40s from me.”

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, said Tarrio was motivated by "revolutionary zeal" to lead the conspiracy that resulted in “200 men, amped up for battle, encircling the Capitol.” Noting that Tarrio had not previously shown any public remorse for his crimes, the judge said a stiff punishment was necessary to deter future political violence.

"It can't happen again. It can’t happen again,” the judge repeated.

Read more:

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Trump White House official Navarro convicted of contempt after defying House Jan. 6 subpoena

WASHINGTON — Trump White House official Peter Navarro was convicted Thursday of contempt of Congress charges filed after he was accused of refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The verdict came after a short trial for Navarro, who served as a White House trade adviser under President Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican's baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost.

Navarro was the second Trump aide to face contempt of Congress charges after former White House adviser Steve Bannon. Bannon was convicted of two counts and was sentenced to four months behind bars, though he has been free pending appeal.

Prosecutors said Navarro acted as if he were "above the law" when he defied a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House Jan. 6 committee. He was charged with two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, both punishable by up to a year behind bars.

A defense attorney argued Navarro didn't ignore the congressional subpoena but instead told committee staffers to contact Trump about what material might be covered by executive privilege, something they did not do.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Navarro's executive privilege argument wasn't a defense against the charges, finding that Navarro hadn't shown evidence Trump invoked it.

Prosecutors said that much of the material the committee sought was already publicly available and that Navarro should have handed over what he could and flagged any questions or documents believed to be protected under executive privilege.

Trump faces a federal indictment in Washington, D.C., and a state indictment in Georgia over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat. He has denied wrongdoing and has said he was acting within the law.

The House Jan. 6 committee finished its work in January, after a final report that said Trump criminally engaged in a "multi-part conspiracy" to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election and failed to act to stop a mob of his supporters from attacking the Capitol.

Read more:

'That '70s Show' actor Danny Masterson gets 30 years to life in prison for rapes of 2 women

LOS ANGELES — A judge sentenced "That '70s Show" star Danny Masterson to 30 years to life in prison Thursday for the rapes of two women two decades ago.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo handed down the sentence to the 47-year-old Masterson after hearing statements from the women about the trauma they experienced and the suffering caused by the disturbing memories in the years since.

The actor, who has been in custody since May, sat in court wearing a suit. Masterson watched the women without visible reaction as they spoke.

"When you raped me, you stole from me," said one woman who Masterson was convicted of raping in 2003. "That's what rape is, a theft of the spirit."

"You are pathetic, disturbed and completely violent," she said. "The world is better off with you in prison."

The other woman Masterson was found guilty of raping said he "has not shown an ounce of remorse for the pain he caused." She told the judge, "I knew he belonged behind bars for the safety of all the women he came into contact with. I am so sorry, and I'm so upset. I wish I'd reported him sooner to the police."

After an initial jury failed to reach verdicts on three counts of rape in December and a mistrial was declared, prosecutors retried Masterson on all three counts earlier this year.

This time, a jury of seven women and five men found Masterson guilty of two counts on May 31 after seven days of deliberations. Both attacks took place in Masterson's Hollywood-area home in 2003, when he was at the height of his fame on the Fox network sitcom "That '70s Show."

They could not reach a verdict on the third count, an allegation that Masterson also raped a longtime girlfriend. They had voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.

The judge sentenced the actor after rejecting a defense motion for a new trial that was argued earlier Thursday.

"Mr. Masterson, I know that you're sitting here steadfast in your claims of innocence, and thus no doubt feeling victimized by a justice system that has failed you," Olmedo told Masterson before handing down the sentence. "But Mr. Masterson, you are not the victim here. Your actions 20 years ago took away another person's voice, and choice. One way or another you will have to come to terms with your prior actions, and their consequences."

The defense sought to have sentences for the two convictions run simultaneously, and asked for a sentence of 15 years to life. The prosecution asked for the full 30 years to life sentence Masterson was eligible for.

"It's his life that will be impacted by what you decide today," Masterson's lawyer Shawn Holley told the judge before the sentencing. "And the life of his 9-year-old daughter, who means the world to him, and to whom he means the world."

"He has lived an exemplary life, he has been an extraordinary father, husband, brother, son, co-worker and community servant," Holley said.

Prosecutors alleged that Masterson used his prominence in the Church of Scientology — where all three women were also members at the time — to avoid consequences for decades after the attacks.

The women blamed the church for their hesitancy in going to police about Masterson. They testified that when they reported him to Scientology officials, they were told they were not raped, were put through ethics programs themselves, and were warned against going to law enforcement to report a member of such high standing.

The church said in a statement after the verdict that the "testimony and descriptions of Scientology beliefs" during the trial were "uniformly false."

"The Church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone — Scientologists or not — to law enforcement," the statement said.

Masterson did not testify, and his lawyers called no witnesses. The defense argued that the acts were consensual, and attempted to discredit the women's stories by highlighting changes and inconsistencies over time, which they said showed signs of coordination between them.

The women whose testimony led to Masterson's conviction said that in 2003, he gave them drinks and that they then became woozy or passed out before he violently raped them.

Olmedo allowed prosecutors and accusers to say directly in the second trial that Masterson drugged the women, while only allowing the women to describe their condition in the first.

Masterson was not charged with any counts of drugging, and there was no toxicology evidence to back up the assertion. The issue could be a factor in a planned appeal from the defense of Masterson's conviction.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they've been sexually abused.

Masterson starred with Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace in "That '70s Show" from 1998 until 2006.

He had reunited with Kutcher on the 2016 Netflix comedy "The Ranch," but was written off the show when a Los Angeles Police Department investigation was revealed the following year.

While that investigation began before a wave of women shook Hollywood with stories about Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, the conviction and sentencing of Masterson still represents a major #MeToo era success for Los Angeles prosecutors, along with the conviction of Weinstein himself last year.

JCPenney spending $1 billion on store, online upgrades in latest bid to revive its business

NEW YORK — JCPenney said Thursday it plans to spend more than $1 billion by the end of 2025 in a bid to revive the storied but troubled 121-year-old department store chain.

The money is going toward remodeling JCPenney stores, upgrading its online shopping site and app, and making its supply network more efficient so that online orders are delivered more quickly.

JCPenney's CEO Marc Rosen, who took the company's helm in November 2021 and has served as an executive at Levi Strauss and Walmart, is renewing the chain's focus on its core middle-income shoppers with affordable fashion and housewares.

"Now is the time more than ever to lean into that and make sure that we're delivering that experience for our customer," Rosen said in an interview with The Associated Press. That's a change of tactics from previous management teams that pursued wealthier shoppers with offers of trendy items and major appliances.

As part of the plans unveiled Thursday, check-out stations that had been located throughout JCPenney's stores will be replaced with a single area of cashiers. Shoppers will also see brighter lighting and a fresh coat of paint. Store employees will be equipped with mobile devices to scan inventory and ring up shoppers' purchases. And the chain is making upgrades to its Wi-Fi networks to speed up in-store connections.

But JCPenney is playing catch-up with its competitors — from discounters to department stores like Macy's and Walmart — that have been upgrading their stores and online businesses, underscoring the challenges faced by the retailer based in Plano, Texas.

JCPenney, which emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization in December 2020 with new owners, not only has grappled with years of internal issues but also faces an uncertain economy that has challenged healthier department stores.

The chain's core customers are budget-conscious families, whose median income ranges from $50,000 to $75,000. They've been particularly hit hard by higher costs basic items and high interest rates, making borrowing on credit cards and taking out a mortgage more expensive.

Rosen said JCPenney's customers are spending $700 more per month than two years ago just for basic necessities, like rent, gas and food. He noted they're seeking competitive prices as well as a good shopping experience.

But in this tough economy, JCPenney has a role, Rosen said. He believes shoppers are finding other department stores too expensive, while online retailers and off-price stores don't give them the customer service JCPenney shoppers are looking for.

The company filed for bankruptcy reorganization in May 2020 after the pandemic-induced temporary closing of stores put the already struggling retailer deeper in peril.

Under new owners — mall companies Simon Property Group Inc. and Brookfield Property Partners LP — JCPenney shuttered nearly a quarter of its 850 stores. It now has roughly 650 stores. It has less than $500 million in debt, down from nearly $5 billion at the time of its bankruptcy filing, Rosen said.

As part of the latest remodeling push, Rosen said 100 stores have been refurbished. The plan is to remodel anywhere from 50 to 100 per year, he said.

The retailer has been rebuilding its beauty business after Sephora announced a deal to leave the chain for rival Kohl's three years ago. As part of its overhaul, it has been highlighting beauty products that cover a wider range of skin tones. One third of its customers are of color. The company said that more than 50% of its beauty brands are either owned by females or people of color.

The retailer launched new store label brands like Mutual Weave men's clothing and reintroduced some national brands like Adidas. It launched national labels such as Forever 21, owned by Authentic Brands Group LLC, which has a minority stake in JCPenney. It also teamed up with celebrity stylist Jason Bolden to recreate collections for two of its store label brands, J. Ferrar and Worthington, a long-time brand it brought back.

Most importantly, Rosen said JCPenney has worked hard to keep the basics like jeans, white-T-shirts, and sheet sets in stock with the full size range or full color assortment, a problem that has plagued the chain and frustrated shoppers.

Rosen said the changes have helped increase the number of repeat visits of existing customers to both stores and online. More than 50 million customers have visited JCPenney in the past three years, he said. After about five years of declines, it's now seeing customers coming to JCPenney more frequently — a 5% increase. As for its beauty departments,25% are new customers, he noted.

"That's showing us that if we get the basic relevant experience right, then they're going to come to us more frequently because they know the brand, they're shopping us already and they're now starting to shop across more areas of the store and come more frequently, " he said.

Placer.ai, which tracks people's movements via cellphone usage, show that visits for JCPenney stores are down 24% compared with the year-ago period.

Rosen arrived at JCPenney when its annual revenue ranged between $8 billion and $9 billion and that number was unchanged last year. He expects it could decline slightly this year because of all the economic uncertainty. It had annual sales of roughly $11.2 billion when it filed for bankruptcy, but also ran more stores back then.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said he was recently at a JCPenney store in Phoenix, and the stores looked messy, and there were gaps on shelves. But he did praise the beauty area.

"They may have steadied the ship, but they have not revived the brand," he said.

A look inside Donald Trump's deposition: Defiance, deflection and the 'hottest brand in the world'

NEW YORK — In newly public testimony, Donald Trump boasts about building a multibillion-dollar brand and saving "millions of lives" as president.

He spars with the New York attorney general suing him for fraud, telling Letitia James "the whole case is crazy" and accusing her staff of trying to trip him up like TV lawyer Perry Mason did to witnesses.

Read the full deposition here:

Nation & World

New York v. Donald Trump deposition

Trump gave seven hours of sworn testimony in April as part of James' lawsuit, which accused the Republican and his company of defrauding banks, insurers and others with annual financial statements that inflated the value of assets and boosted his net worth by more than $2 billion in some years.

Trump's lawyers posted a transcript of his deposition in a flurry of court filings Wednesday, ahead of a possible October trial.

Here are the highlights:

A 'TERRIBLE THING'

Trump decried James' lawsuit as a "terrible thing," telling her and her staff "you don't have a case."

He insisted the banks she alleges were snookered with lofty valuations suffered no harm, got paid in his deals and "to this day have no complaints."

"Do you know the banks made a lot of money?" Trump asked. "Do you know I don't believe I ever got even a default notice and, even during COVID, the banks were all paid. And yet you're suing on behalf of banks, I guess. It's crazy. The whole case is crazy."

Banks "want to do business with me because I'm rich," Trump told James. "But, you know what, they're petrified to do business because of you."

Trump complained New York authorities "spend all their time investigating me, instead of stopping violent crime in the streets."

He said they'd put his recently jailed ex-finance chief Allen Weisselberg "through hell and back" for dodging taxes on company-paid perks.

"Now I have to come and justify myself to you," Trump groused.

***

DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT

Trump said he never felt his financial statements "would be taken very seriously," and that people who did business with him were given ample warning not to trust them.

Trump described the statements as "a fairly good compilation of properties" rather than a true representation of their value. Some numbers, he noted, were "guesstimates."

Trump claimed the statements were mainly for his use, though he conceded financial institutions sometimes asked for them.

Even then, he insisted it didn't matter legally if they were accurate or not, because they came with a disclaimer.

"I have a clause in there that says, 'Don't believe the statement. Go out and do your own work," Trump testified. "You're supposed to pay no credence to what we say whatsoever."

***

WHAT'S IN A NAME? $10 BILLION

Trump estimated that his "brand" alone is worth "maybe $10 billion."

He called it "the most valuable asset I have" and attributed his political success to the ubiquity of his name and persona.

"I became president because of the brand, OK," Trump said. "I became president. I think it's the hottest brand in the world."

***

'MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN THE WORLD'

After Trump was elected, he put the Trump Organization into a trust overseen by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and longtime finance chief, Weisselberg.

Trump claimed he did so not because it was required but because he wanted to be a "legitimate president" and avoid appearance of a conflict of interest.

Plus, Trump said, he was busy solving the world's problems — like preventing North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un from launching a nuclear attack.

"I considered this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives," Trump testified. "I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn't deal with North Korea. I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren't elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth."

***

NOW WE'RE TALKING

Trump's often garrulous testimony was a 180-degree turn from the approach he took when James summoned him for questioning in August 2022 — before her lawsuit or any of the four criminal cases against him were filed.

At that first deposition, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions more than 400 times. Trump said he did so because he was certain politically motivated prosecutors would use his answers as a basis for criminal charges.

By April, Trump changed his mind and responded to even simple questions at such length that his interrogator, James' deputy Kevin Wallace, suggested he was trying to run out the clock.

"Chris, we're going to be here until midnight if your client answers every question with an eight-minute speech," he said to one of Trump's lawyers, Christopher Kise.

Trump, though, seemed aware there was a risk in going on and on.

In the middle of one of his protracted answers, expounding on the greatness of one of his golf courses, Trump said: "You are going to let me go on, hoping that I make a mistake. And that's OK. That's the way it is. Perry Mason. Perry Mason."

***

OBSTRUCTED VIEW

Trump testified at the attorney general's Manhattan office, across the street from 40 Wall Street — a skyscraper labeled "The Trump Building" in big, gold letters.

Asked how the building was doing, financially, Trump answered: "Good. It's right here. Would you like to see it?"

"I don't think we're allowed to open the windows," Wallace said.

"Open the curtain," Trump suggested.

"No," Wallace said.

"Open the curtain, go ahead," Trump said. "It's right here. I just looked out the window."

"Can't open it?" Trump lawyer Clifford Robert asked, after a beat.

"I wouldn't," Wallace said.

***

'BEAUTIFUL' AND 'INCREDIBLE'

Trump showed off his knack for superlatives, uttering the words "beautiful" and "incredible" 15 times each and "phenomenal" six times as he described his properties.

Trump called his Turnberry, Scotland, golf course "one of the most iconic places in the world," and the renovated villas at his Doral golf resort near Miami "the most beautiful rooms you've ever seen."

Trump described his 213-acre Seven Springs estate north of New York City as "the greatest house in New York State."

His golf courses in Aberdeen, Scotland? "Really incredible." Jupiter, Florida? "An incredible facility." Just outside Los Angeles? "An incredible property … an unbelievable property ... a phenomenal property that fronts on the ocean."

"I don't want to sell any of them," Trump testified. "But if I ever sold them — if I ever put some of these things up for sale — I would get numbers that were staggering."

He said he could get $1.5 billion for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and maybe $2.5 billion for Doral.

Trump suggested he could get "a fortune" from the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV golf league for the Turnberry course, a former British Open site.

"There would be people that would do anything to own Doral. There are people that would do anything to own Turnberry or Mar-a-Lago or ... Trump Tower or 40 Wall Street."