What you should know
Former President Donald Trump returned to the Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday to attend the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial against him and his company. Trump had planned to attend the trial in Manhattan Supreme Court to watch Michael’s testimony. Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer. But Cohen’s appearance was delayed. Trump received a partial gag order from Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron during his earlier appearance in the trial.
The ex-president Donald Trump I come back on Tuesday To the court from Manhattan to watch the judgment civil for fraud against him and his company.
Outside the Manhattan Supreme Court courtroom, Trump sharply criticized the judge who will decide the case.
“He’s a Democratic judge, he’s very liberal, and I think he’s under a lot of pressure,” Trump told reporters in the hallway.
Trump also repeated attacks on New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case accusing Trump, two of his adult children, the Trump Organization and others of a years-long pattern of corporate fraud.
James is seeking about $250 million in damages and a court order permanently barring Trump and other defendants from running a business in New York.
Both James and Trump were present in court Tuesday morning.
Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and others in the case are liable for fraud. The judge’s decision revoked the defendants’ New York business certificates and ordered an independent receiver to oversee their dissolution. A New York appeals court suspendedfrom temporarily canceling those certificates.
The trial focuses on James’ six remaining claims in the case, which is being held without a jury. Engoron will himself pronounce the verdict in the case.
Trump’s comments outside the courtroom came after he criticized Engoron as a “radical leftist Democrat” in a social media post Tuesday morning.
“The United States cannot allow this to happen. Our legal system is corrupt and broken!” trump wrote en Truth Social.
Trump had initially planned to be present at this week’s trial for testimony from Michael Cohenhis former personal lawyer and mediator.
Cohen’s testimony before Congress in 2019, in which he alleged that the Trump Organization deceptively changed the values of key real estate assets for financial gain, led James to launch an investigation into Trump and his business.
But Cohen’s expected appearance at trial was delayed due to what he called a “pre-existing medical condition that impedes my ability to testify.”
“Rest assured, I will testify as soon as possible,” Cohen said Saturday in a statement to NBC News.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in the case. He repeatedly criticized James, the judge and the process in general when he was in court for part of the first week of the trial in early October.
During that stretch, Engoron imposed a gag order partial to Trump after the former president sent a social media post attacking the judge’s law clerk.
Engoron ordered Trump and others involved in the case not to speak publicly about any of their staff.
Trump has since received another order to partial silence andn a federal criminal case in Washington, D.C., where he faces charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to the president Joe Biden.
Trump, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, left the civil trial in New York after two and a half days, after complaining that he was “stuck here” instead of campaigning.
He is not required to attend the trial, which is expected to last until the end of December.
In Truth Social’s Tuesday morning post, Trump repeated his claim that he has been unfairly denied a jury in the case.
“I cannot have a JURY and I am being brutally tried under a Statute that has never been used before. The radical left Democrat judge, who is HIGHLY POLITICAL, serves as judge, jury and everything else,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
It is article was originally published in English by Kevin Breuninger for our sister chain CNBC.com. For more from CNBC enter here.
2023-10-17 16:34:14
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