Former President Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial in Manhattan took a tumultuous turn just two hours into his testimony. He accused the judge, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, of “fraud” and labeled the state attorney general, Letitia James, a “hack.”
At the beginning of his testimony, the 77-year-old Trump spoke softly. Still, his demeanor changed when Justice Engoron warned him about delivering speeches instead of providing direct answers during questioning. The 2024 GOP presidential front-runner unleashed a tirade, alleging that both Engoron and Letitia James were attempting to harm him.
He directed his ire at James, accusing her of being a “political hack” and using the case to enhance her political standing. Trump didn’t spare Engoron, openly pointing at the judge, and declaring, “Everybody’s watching this case. He called me a fraud and he didn’t know anything about me.”
He vehemently asserted, “The fraud is on the court and not on me,” and turned to James, asserting, “The fraud is on her!” Trump also questioned the valuation discrepancies related to Mar-A-Lago, suggesting that such disparities implied either ignorance or deception within the court.
Trump’s testimony began at 10 a.m. as part of the trial addressing Letitia James’ allegations that he inflated his assets for a decade on financial documents to secure favorable loan and insurance terms. In a significant pre-trial decision, Engoron found Trump liable for some of the central fraud allegations made by James, particularly regarding the valuation of the Palm Beach golf club.
The courtroom drama escalated when Justice Engoron warned Trump to refrain from delivering speeches. Trump continued to vocalize his discontent, asserting, “He’s the one who didn’t rule my property correctly” and insisting on his performance as president before eventually conceding, “I’m done.”
The morning’s proceedings were marred by visible tension and numerous confrontations between Trump, his legal team, and the judge. Engoron threatened to remove the former president from the witness stand if he persisted in delivering speeches in response to straightforward questions.
Amid the back-and-forth, Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, contested the judge’s admonition to sit down and claimed that Engoron should listen to Trump’s statements. Engoron’s retort was a sharp, “I am not here to listen to what he has to say,” followed by a directive for Habba to sit down. Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with the trial, characterizing it as “very unfair,” and conveyed his hope that the public was following the proceedings.
During a brief morning recess, Trump refrained from responding to media inquiries, symbolizing zipped lips. As he left the courtroom for lunch, he signaled his approval with a thumbs-up to reporters’ questions regarding the trial’s progress.
Before his morning testimony, Trump had labeled the case as “election interference” and “political warfare.” He was prohibited from discussing his testimony until the trial’s conclusion.
During the lunch break outside the courtroom, Alina Habba openly criticized the judge in front of television cameras. She voiced her objections to being instructed to sit down and accused the judge of being “unhinged” and “slamming a table.” Habba also implied that her client, Trump, would emerge victorious in the 2024 presidential election, stressing the importance of allowing attorneys to speak freely in defense of their clients.
On her way into the court that morning, Letitia James anticipated Trump’s resorting to “name-calling, taunts, and race-baiting,” characterizing the case as a witch hunt. She emphasized the significance of facts and numbers, asserting that, ultimately, “numbers, my friends, don’t lie.”
{Matzav.com}
Trump Imposes Gag Order On Presiding Judge and Attorney General
Former President Donald J. Trump issued a gag order on Monday barring both the Judge who is overseeing his civil fraud trial and New York Attorney General Letitia James from discussing his case both “in the court room and outside the court room!”
““The fraud is on the Judge and on Letitia James, not on me,” Mr. Trump asserted from the witness stand. “These two fraudsters can not be trusted with anything they say about me because they have a blatant conflict of interest, namely, they are two left-wing political hacks who are trying to prevent ME, the leading presidential candidate in the 2024 race, from winning a second term!”
Mr. Trump added that if the presiding Judge or the Attorney General violates his gag order, he will impose a $100,000 on each one of them, remove them from their posts and require the two of them to attend
“a rehab facility for political hacks and vindictive, left-wing miscreants.”
When reporters later asked the presiding judge whether he would heed Mr. Trump’s gag order, the Judge reportedly took out a large piece of paper and wrote in bold letters, “Sorry! Can’t talk to you right now! No comment!”