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Former president accuses Justice Arthur Engoron and state attorney general Letitia James of trying to ‘screw’ him ahead of Iowa caucuses
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Donald Trump calls civil fraud trial ‘terrible witch hunt’ ahead of closing arguments
Lawyers for Donald Trump presented closing arguments in his civil fraud trial at New York’s State Supreme Court on Thursday, calling the case against the former president and his company a “manufactured claim” to pursue “a political agenda”.
Justice Arthur Engoron, presiding over the trial, permitted Mr Trump to speak briefly at the close of the defence arguments. He was not permitted to make fuller remarks having not agreed to the judge’s rules about sticking to the facts of the case.
The former president had attacked the judge on Truth Social for not allowing him to deliver his own closing argument at today’s session.
Mr Trump said Justice Engoron was colluding with New York Attorney General Letitia James to “screw” him and accused them of “election interference” for scheduling today’s session so close to the 2024 Iowa caucuses.
In remarks outside the courtroom, the former president called the trial an “unconstitutional witch hunt” and baselessly claimed it was being conducted “in coordination with the White House and Joe Biden because he can’t win an election fairly”.
On Thursday morning, Justice Engoron’s home was “swatted”, in the latest incident of harassment against him and his staff since the trial began.
Donald Trump confirmed that he will appear at a defamation trial brought against him by author E Jean Carroll, who a jury determined was sexually assaulted by the former president during the 1990s.
Mr Trump made the announcement during a press conference after he gave the closing argument in his New York fraud trial. He said he planned to attend the defamation trial, which takes place next week on Tuesday.
“Yeah, I’m going to go to it, and I’m going to explain I don’t know who the hell she is. I have no idea,” he said.
Graig Graziosi reports:
‘I don’t know who the hell she is, I have no idea,’ Mr Trump said of Ms Carroll
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has announced that he has filed and amicus brief in support of former president Donald Trump’s Supreme Court case regarding the 14th Amendment.
“I filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court today arguing to overturn the Colorado decision to eliminate Trump from the GOP primary ballot. It’d be a lot easier for me if Trump weren’t in the race, but that’s not how any of us should want to win.”
Mr Ramaswamy is still in the 2024 primary race but failed to qualify for the most recent debate.
At a brief press conference on the steps of the New York State Supreme Court, Attorney General Letitia James says: “This case has never been about politics. This case is about the facts and the law.”
The personal attacks don’t bother her, she says.
The trial however has “shown the scope, scale, breadth and depth of illegality and fraud that enriched the Trump family,” she says.
“At the end of the day, the point is simple … no one is above the law. The law applies to all of us equally.”
If Eric and Don Jr really didn’t know what was going on with those statements of financial condition. that kind of “recklessness” shows they have “no business being an officer or director in a New York corporation,” Wallace says.
Even if it all doesn’t matter to the banks in the end, as Trump and others have argued, that “sets the bar too low” and undermines the law that states you can’t intentionally inflate the figures you send them, according to Wallace.
“You’ve heard from every banker that it’s not acceptable to intentionally inflate your assets in order to get your loan,” he says.
That’s it for Wallace.
The judge says he knows everyone is anxious for a decision and adds that he’ll do his best to issue one by 31 January.
Court adjourned.
Trump, McConney and Weisselberg should be hit with a lifetime bar from New York real estate, Wallace argues.
Trump has never indicated he’s willing to change his behaviour, constantly casts himself as the victim, and has repeatedly failed to adhere to basic court rules and faced a gag order after his outbursts endangered the safety of court staff, Wallace says.
An image of the three men on a PowerPoint was slapped with a big red LIFETIME BAN banner.
Eric and Don Jr should face a five-year bar, Wallace argues.
[These were also detailed in the post-trial briefs last week]
Wallace pointed to the case of Martin Shkreli as an example, after he was barred from the pharmaceutical industry under a similar statute. Trump should face a similar sanction, he says.
State attorneys have been laying out for the first time what they believe is Trump’s motivation for the alleged fraud, suggesting the defendants turned to fraud while low on cash during Trump’s campaign and presidency.
Amer, in closing, tells the judge to consider if any of that “persistent fraud would have happened over the last 11 years without tacit permission from Trump”.
“The answer we submit is certainly no,” he says.
Attorney Kevin Wallace is up now, going over the sanctions suggested in closing briefs.
Far-right Republicans are threatening another revolt after Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed on a topline spending number for 2024 as part of their negotiations aimed at averting a government shutdown.
It’s a late-in-the-game wrench in the machinery that has Washington analysts worried about whether Congress will be able to keep the government functioning — and predicting the imminent downfall of Mr Johnson.
Grumblings on the right wing spilled over into open rebellion on Wednesday and into Thursday as the House Freedom Caucus came out against the agreement negotiated between Mr Johnson and Mr Schumer, which set a topline spending number of $1.59 trillion for the fiscal year plus $69bn in “budget adjustments”. That $1.59 trillion number had been granted the support of the Freedom Caucus in December, making this week’s news all the more infuriating for Republican and Democratic negotiators.
John Bowden reports on the unfolding fiasco:
Budget deal’s future thrown into question by Mike Johnson’s first right-wing meltdown
Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, pleaded not guilty to nine tax-related federal charges during his arraignment on Thursday afternoon stemming from an indictment accusing him of failing to file or pay individual income tax between 2016 and 2019.
The charges, brought by Special Counsel David Weiss last month consist of three felony and six misdemeanour counts including failure to pay individual income taxes, evasion of tax assessment and filing a false or fraudulent tax form.
Ariana Baio filed this report:
President’s son was indicted on nine tax-related charges months after being indicted on gun-related charges
Engoron pauses Amer.
He says the post-trial briefs and his statements now are spending an “enormous” amount of time claiming that Don Jr and Eric knew that what they were doing was fraud.
“What evidence do you have, I haven’t seen it,” the judge says.
Amer says it’s a question of whether “stick your head in the sand” is a defence.
“Either you intended to defraud, or you engaged, quite frankly, in gross negligence,” he says.
“They have a legal responsibility as co-CEOs, as attorneys in fact, they signed certifications … They were at the top of the organizational chart.”
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Former US President Donald Trump looks on in court before closing arguments in the Trump Organization civil fraud trial
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