Trump Heads Back to Court
President Donald J. Trump disembarks Marine One at Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, and boards Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Official Archived White House Photo by Shealah Craighead).
The world watches as Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom facing a continuation of a civil business fraud trial in New York City.
Article by Victoria Newsome, Junior Election Correspondent
NEW YORK - Increased security has been planted promptly in downtown Manhattan as Former President Donald Trump arrived in a New York courtroom on Monday Oct. 2nd.
The opening statements presented covered his inflated assets in fraudulent financial statements less than a week after the ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron.
The ruling found Trump and his co-defendants liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud. The civil fraud trial is not only against Donald Trump. It is against his eldest sons, their companies, and Trump organization executives.
New York Attorney General, Letitia James, brought the $250 million lawsuit last September that alleged Trump and his co-defendants committed repeated fraud in inflating assets on financial statements to get an advantage on commercial real estate loans and insurance policies.
The trial could reveal a deeper look into Trump’s business operations and net worth. However, there is an immense amount at stake in this trial. Trump and his companies could be required to pay huge sums in damages for the profits they’ve accumulated through fraudulent business practices.
The judge, Engoron, will be responsible for considering just how much the Trumps and their businesses will need to pay as he is expected to look at multiple claims of business records. Engoron set aside three months for the trial, but new evidence could have the trial progressing quicker.
Trump’s lawyers are infuriated and have asked the state’s intermediate appellate court to suspend the trial and stop Engoron from enforcing a ruling he made late last week. Engoron’s ruling blatantly rejects Trump’s arguments that he didn’t inflate the values of his golf courses, hotels, homes at Mar-a-Lago and Seven Springs on financial statements.
“This is a massive error. It is irreparable,” Trump lawyer Christopher Kise told the appellate judge, Associate Justice Peter H. Moulton.
This decision revoked the Republican presidential frontrunner’s business licenses and put a court-appointed receiver in charge of his companies. Some sources say that Trump has been pushing the trial off far too long, while his team claims they are searching for fairness.
“We’re not seeking a delay. We’re seeking a fair trial,” Kise said via AP News.
Trump’s lawyers remarked that Engoron’s ruling could harm not only Trump and other defendants but as many as 1,000 employees.
James opposed Trump’s version and side as she remarks was “falsely claiming victory” for a resolution that her office had proposed and that the most important thing that came from it was that the trial goes on as scheduled.
“Once again, Donald Trump’s attempts to delay this trial have been rejected,” James said in a statement. “Yet another court denied his efforts to evade justice for his years of fraud. But Donald Trump lives in a fantasy world where money grows on trees and facts don’t matter.”
Trump and his lawyers have denied all wrongdoing while arguing that some of his assets are worth far more than what is present on the statements.
As the trial moves forward, there are a variety of established individuals that are expected to testify. Donald Bender, a longtime Trump Organization tax consultant, is said to testify as the attorney general’s first witness.
Others such as Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and several other current and former Trump Organization employees are documented as potential witnesses. Everyone directly with the Trump family and lineage is listed as potential witnesses, but that does not mean they will be called to testify.
As the 2024 election nears, Trump faces a calendar of criminal and civil litigations as he pleaded not guilty on all four criminal indictments handed down this year. Although Trump can not opt out of attending the civil trial, his attorneys have indicated that he is eager to testify in court.
On Tuesday, Trump’s longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg will appear on the witness stand. Weisselberg, a defendant, oversaw Trump’s dealmaking, was thoroughly involved in securing loans, and supervised McConney’s work on the financial statements. His testimony will be intriguing to hear since he left jail in April after serving about 100 days for avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in job perks.