Donald Trump arrives for civil fraud trial opening in NYC

Donald Trump arrives for civil fraud trial opening
By Robert Plummer
BBC News | Published 43 minutes ago

Former US President Donald Trump has arrived at court in New York for the opening of a civil fraud trial which leaves his business empire in jeopardy.

Mr Trump, his two adult sons, and the Trump Organization, are accused of inflating the value of their properties by more than $2bn (£1.65bn).

Last week, a New York judge ruled Mr Trump was liable for business fraud.

Mr Trump's legal team had tried and failed to delay the case.

Last Tuesday, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Mr Trump had misrepresented his wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is now seeking a fine of $250m (£204m) and a ban on Mr Trump doing business in his home state.

As a result of the action, the Trump Organization could be forced to relinquish control of its properties to a court-appointed receiver, or ultimately sell some of its landmarks.

Mr Trump said late on Sunday that he planned to be present at the start of the trial on Monday morning.

"I'm going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "This whole case is a sham!!!"

The case is a bench trial, meaning it will be decided not by a jury but by Judge Engoron. He has said it could take as long as three months to hear the case.

Mr Trump and the other defendants in the case have argued that they never committed fraud.

The ex-president has already attacked the judge, accusing him of carrying out what he claimed was a politically motivated witch-hunt.

Judge Engoron's ruling last week resolved the key claim of fraud in Ms James' lawsuit, leaving the trial to focus on a more narrow set of six remaining fraud claims and on determining penalties against Mr Trump.

Among several decisions, Judge Engoron determined Mr Trump overvalued his Mar-a-Lago, Florida property by 2,300% and claimed his penthouse at Trump Tower in New York was three times its actual size.

Ms James alleged Mr Trump issued these false records to get better terms on loans and insurance deals and to pay less tax.

The civil fraud case is one of several legal battles the former president is facing, including criminal charges over election interference and handling of classified documents.

"Jesus!": Judge explodes at Trump lawyer for trying to "waste time" during questioning
Tatyana Tandanpolie | Salon
Wed, October 4, 2023 at 2:09 PM MDT

The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump's civil fraud case lost his cool with the former president's legal team as they tried to employ their typical delay tactics while questioning a witness during Wednesday's trial. According to Daily Beast reporter Jose Pagliery, after Trump lawyer Jesus Suarez repeatedly asked longtime Trump accountant Donald Bender lengthy questions about specifics from 2020 to 2011, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron exclaimed, "Jesus!"

In response, other Trump attorneys argued they have to repeat the questions for each year because the case depends on a statute of limitations. Engoron, however, countered that he didn't care, accusing the defense of wasting time and instructing them to ask if answers for all years are the same. Tensions continued to rise as Suarez persisted, asking separate questions about 2013 actions for individual Trump properties. "Counselor, can we lump this all together against using the same principles?" the judge asked. Though Suarez agreed, he continued to draw out the questioning. "I don't talk just to hear myself. I'm precluding you from doing this," Engoron said.

"You're not allowed to waste time. That is what this is becoming," Engoron added, raising his voice as Suarez continued. Fellow Trump attorney Chris Kise later jumped in twice to assure the judge they would do their best to streamline, but each time Engoron responded, "Doesn't seem like that yet!" After the latter instance, Engoron reiterated that it was pointless to go through each line, but Kise questioned him in a condescending tone, asserting that "it makes a poor record, frankly" and foreshadowing an appellate court fight that will attempt to nullify the three-month trial. Despite the tense exchange between the judge and Kise, Suarez continued to belabor the process. "I have a thick skin, but it's really being pierced here," Engoron said.

The gag order in Trump's civil fraud case not surprising, legal expert says, but he's not likely to face a fine or jail time if he breaks it
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | INSIDER
Tue, October 3, 2023 at 10:15 PM MDT

The judge in Trump's civil fraud trial issued a gag order after Trump repeatedly attacked the court clerk.

Penalties for violating the order include potential fines and jail time.

However, a legal expert told Insider Trump isn't likely to face those kinds of consequences.

The trial judge in the New York civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a gag order against the former president after he repeatedly attacked the court clerk in social media posts.

The gag order bars Trump from posting about any members of Justice Arthur Engoron's staff after the former president circulated a Truth Social post of Engoron's law clerk standing next to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, calling the clerk "Schumer's girlfriend."

Trump bails out of fraud trial on 3rd day: He came, he scowled, he got gagged, and left
Laura Italiano,Jacob Shamsian | INSIDER
Updated Wed, October 4, 2023 at 2:28 PM MDT

Donald Trump left his NY business fraud trial Wednesday after attending for two and a half days.

In that time, he held multiple hallway press conferences and was hit with a limited gag order.

Trump must return in the coming weeks to testify in the $250 million civil trial, brought by the NY AG.

Exit, Donald Trump.

After two and a half days of scowling inside — and angrily speechifying just outside — of a Manhattan courtroom, the former president on Wednesday left his $250 million civil fraud trial.

He doesn't have to return until he testifies, by order of a New York state subpoena, some weeks from now.

"I'd rather be right now in Iowa," Trump said in a parting shot to reporters at the start of the lunch break, mid-way through the trial's first week.

"I'm stuck here because I have a corrupt attorney general who communicates with the Justice Department to keep me busy," he said, leaving the third-floor courtroom, where the future of his real estate empire will be decided over the next two to three months.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Trump, his eldest sons, and his real-estate empire, Trump Organization, alleging he falsely inflated the value of his properties by as much as $3.6 billion a year in official statements to banks, insurers, and others.

"The Donald Trump show is over," James, who has also attended the trial, told reporters after her lead defendant's departure.

"I will not be bullied," she added of Trump, who has repeatedly blasted her as "racist" – criticizing the former president for turning the trial into a "political stunt" and "fundraising stop."

By Day 3, Trump was ready to leave

Trump had appeared to run out of steam by Wednesday morning.

He dilly-dallied returning to the courtroom after a mid-morning break, letting one of his attorneys question the witness on the stand without him. He strolled in during the middle of the cross-examination. At that point, there was only a short while left before the court's 1 p.m. lunch break.

Over the break, Trump flew the coop. New York Police Department officers dismantled the barriers around the courthouse, indicating it was liberated from the grip of the US Secret Service, which had taken over security measures. Three officers told Insider that they didn't expect Trump to return tomorrow, or else they would have left the barriers in place.

Trump's antics in front of the press cameras just outside the courtroom's double doors has often upstaged the plodding and laborious financial testimony inside, where camera use is limited.

During his Secret Service-chaperoned half-week in residence at the trial, Trump attacked the attorney general and the judge — in addition to off-topic diatribes against President Biden and Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Trump earned a limited gag order on Tuesday when he singled out the judge's principal law clerk – including in a disparaging Truth Social post and campaign email that identified her by name and photo and linked to her Instagram account.

The clerk is "running this case against me," read the post, which reached millions of his followers before being taken down. "How disgraceful!"

The gag bars all parties in the case from "posting or publicly speaking about any member of my staff," Engoron said from the bench, warning of "swift, meaningful sanctions" if that happens again.

He also falsely claimed that the judge had thrown out "80 percent" of the AG's case, and had crazily "valued" Mar-a-Lago at only $18 million. The judge had actually quoted that figure from a decade-old assessment on the Palm Beach tax books.

"Please, press, stop saying that I valued it at $18 million. That was a tax assessment," the judge said Monday, asking the media to stop repeating the claim.

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump bristled on his way out when a reporter asked him why he was attending if he'd rather be campaigning.

"Why attend?" he shot back. "I want to point it out to the press how corrupt it is because no one else is able to do it.

Meanwhile, testimony inside is expected to plod on.

By the lunch break on Wednesday, the second day of testimony by Trump Org's longtime outside accountant, Donald Bender, had become so repetitive that the judge snapped at Trump's lawyers for slowing down the testimony.

When Trump's lawyer said Wednesday morning that he would be done with Bender by the end of the day, there was exhausted laughter throughout the room.

In the afternoon Camron Harris, of the tax and audit firm Whitley Penn, took the stand.

Donald Trump Found a Loophole in His Gag Order & Launched a Tirade Against Judge in NY Fraud Case
Kristyn Burtt | https://www.sheknows.com
Thu, October 5, 2023 at 8:21 AM MDT

After Donald Trump, and anyone else associated with his New York business fraud civil case, received a gag order from attacking anyone on Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff, the former president found a loophole. Instead of going after the justice’s court clerk, he decided that he would go straight to the source of his ire.

Donald Trump Saw the Consequences of His Actions After Testing the Patience of the Judge in NY Fraud Case

On Wednesday, Donald Trump ranted and raved about Judge Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James during his daily press conference. It’s the arguments the public has all heard before from “election interference” to his long-standing complaints about a “witch hunt.” He angrily said to reporters, “They made up a fake case, these fraudulent people, and the judge already knows what he’s gonna do. He’s a Democrat judge. In all fairness to him, he has no choice… He’s run by the Democrats.”



James was not spared from Donald Trump’s angry words as he took aim at her investigation, calling it a “shame.” He shouted, “What’s going on here is a shame. Our whole system is corrupt. This is corrupt. Atlanta is corrupt and what’s coming out of D.C. is corrupt.” The former president is particularly upset about the allegations that he inflated the value of his properties, including his coveted “Winter White House” location, Mar-a-Lago.

Legal experts are already warning that Judge Engoron’s gag order was too limited, and it will only be a matter of time before Donald Trump violates the rules set by the court. “If we’re gonna ask, is Trump gonna violate a gag order? Almost certainly, yes,” former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal told MSNBC. “It’s more likely that he’ll violate the gag order than almost anything… I mean, we’re talking a significant probability he’s going to violate the gag order, and then the question is: Will the judge at that point take the really heavy medicine of putting a former president in jail, or will there be some sort of warning and monetary fine first?”

Donald Trump’s bank account will likely see the first hit, but it’s no secret that he hates to be silenced and a more comprehensive gag order probably won’t stop him from talking — even if it’s in his best interest.

How Trump’s Team Twisted His Bank Fraud Trial Into a Farce
Jose Pagliery, The Daily Beast
Mon, October 16, 2023 at 2:32 AM MDT


Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

Two weeks into Donald Trump’s bank fraud trial in New York, it’s clear that the former president has no intention of actually trying to win the legal battle at this stage.

Instead, Trump’s legal team is working diligently to repurpose the trial as pretext for a future appeal—not to mention warping the proceedings into both a fundraising spectacle and an excuse to skip out on his other court dates.

For nine straight days, Trump’s defense lawyers have littered the court with legal landmines, objecting to nearly every bit of evidence submitted by New York Attorney General Letitia James and warning New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur F. Engoron that each decision he makes will be closely scrutinized by appellate judges—and likely reversed.

The Irony of Trump Whining About a Jury Trial His Lawyers Didn’t Formally Request

At one point, Engoron had to remind Trump’s legal team, “Trials are… not an opportunity to relitigate what I’ve already decided… that’s why we have appeals.”

Rolling Stone cited one source within the Trump camp who described the current kamikaze plan of trying to seize minor victories within the self-created chaos as “Fyre Festival strategies,” a reference to the poorly planned 2017 music festival in the Bahamas that ended in disaster.

The stakes are high: Trump, a self-styled business tycoon, is at real risk of losing his real estate empire. Engoron has already ordered the Trump Organization’s business licenses revoked after concluding that the Trump family and their company’s top executives vastly inflated assets for years. Come December, he could order them to pay $250 million or more.

Team Trump is still irked that they have to defend real estate deals stretching back a decade because the judge hasn’t yet explicitly drawn a stark cutoff in 2016 or so that could shrink the attorney general’s case—something an appellate court instructed him to do before the trial began.

Now, Trump’s lawyers are objecting to anything that even hints at older material, even emails presented by James’ office that make references to the distant past.

But Trump’s defense team has also adopted a comically and deliberately irritating tactic. Anticipating a massive and detailed appeal, they have been asking long-winded questions about each line in each document—and repeating each question for every year from 2011 and beyond.

The tension reached a boiling point on only the trial’s third day, when the judge repeatedly advised that defense lawyers speed things along—only to have defense lawyer Jesus Suarez agree, then ignore him anyway.

“You’re not allowed to waste time,” Engoron said. “That is what this is becoming.”

“We will attempt to streamline this as much as possible,” lead defense lawyer Christopher Kise assured.

“Doesn’t seem like that yet,” the judge shot back.

“The devil’s in the details. I’m sorry, but it is,” Kise countered.

Things then got heated, as the judge called out Trump’s team on what’s become a patently obvious delay tactic.

Trump Lawyers Want Us to Believe Key Witness Knows Nothing

“This is ridiculous!” Engoron said, turning his head to the dozens of journalists in the back of the courtroom. “To the reporters: I’m pounding the bench again. This. Is. Ridiculous! There's no point in going through each line. I'm just being logical here.”

What happened next was an encapsulation of what has become the go-to Trump legal strategy at this trial. Kise, in his characteristically condescending tone toward the older and more experienced judge, misconstrued what Engoron said and demurred.

“Let me make sure I understand,” Kise began. “You’re asking us to go line by line, but just ask the same question for each line?”

“I’ve never had to negotiate how to ask questions. I think it makes a poor record, frankly,” he added, in what seemed like a direct address to the court reporter whose notes will eventually be combed through by a panel of appellate judges. “For the record, I object to this.”

Engoron, seeing through the ploy, responded: “I have a thick skin, but it’s really being pierced here.”

Similar but less intense versions of that scene repeated as the days went by, with Kise often distorting what Engoron was ordering, then turning around and claiming the judge’s decisions were unprecedented and unfair.

In Trump’s other cases, like the criminal investigation for his alleged hoarding of classified records at Mar-a-Lago, his lawyers have relied on procedural delays and appeals to slow things down.

But this court battle stands apart simply for the many ways the former president has managed to drag his feet. So far, it’s working, as the trial is entering its third week with only half a dozen witnesses having testified. There’s no telling if an overall appeal will succeed, however, until the actual trial is over.

Two sources familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that the former president’s lawyers are laser-focused on the appeal at this point, gleefully baiting the judge whenever they can to increase their chances of success at the New York appellate division’s First Judicial Department.

One of those sources noted that Trump, who keeps delivering angry speeches outside the courtroom and maintains a scowl inside the courtroom, has essentially resorted to theatrics to draw public attention to himself. The strategy was described as Machiavellian maneuvering two steps ahead of the Attorney General.

In reality, James is well aware of what’s going on. During a brief court recess on Oct. 4, she told The Daily Beast that Trump—who does not need to appear in person during this civil trial—only keeps doing so to use it as a fundraising tactic. And she ascribed the defense lawyers’ increasingly belligerent performance to what she perceived as their desire to please the big boss.

“They are playing to an audience of one,” James said.

Indeed, the Trump 2024 presidential campaign ramped up its email blasts during the early days of the trial, sending out themed messages that referenced the ongoing court fight.

“I just left the courthouse for the first day of my unjust trial in New York,” read the first email to do so, which ended with a plea to “please make a contribution of ANY amount—truly, even just $1—to peacefully DEFEND our movement from the never-ending witch hunts.”

There’s yet another twist in Trump’s attempt to turn lemons into lemonade. The former president, who’s drowning in legal trouble across the country defending himself from criminal indictments and personal lawsuits, has twisted this bank fraud trial into something akin to a doctor’s note.

By appearing in court during half of the first week at trial, Trump managed to squirm his way out of a potentially devastating deposition in his revenge lawsuit against his former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen.

Trump, who’s known to say self-incriminating things under oath, would have been forced to answer damning questions about the way he employed Cohen as his mob-like consigliere for years. The Miami federal judge overseeing that case allowed him to skip a scheduled interview session to appear in New York for this trial—only to have Trump quickly ditch the lawsuit last week.

And now he’s doing it again.

As first reported in The Messenger, Trump plans to head back to Engoron’s courtroom next week, not-so-coincidentally overlapping with his scheduled deposition in a lawsuit brought by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Both former FBI officials’ careers spiraled when Trump used his power at the White House to drag their names through the mud, demonizing them for their roles in the much-maligned Trump-Russia investigation.

Court employee arrested for approaching Donald Trump during civil trial
AARON KATERSKY and PETER CHARALAMBOUS | ABC News
Wed, October 18, 2023 at 12:52 PM MDT

A court employee was arrested Wednesday after she tried to approach former President Donald Trump while he was seated in the courtroom during his civil trial in lower Manhattan.

As the trial was taking place, the woman "disrupted the proceedings by standing up and walking towards the front of the courtroom and yelling out to Mr. Trump indicating she wanted to assist him," according to a spokesman for the New York State Unified Court System.

The woman was stopped by court officers before she got near Trump or any of the attorneys or other litigants.

None of the parties were ever in any danger, the spokesman said.

She was escorted out of the courtroom and the courthouse by uniformed court officers and has been charged with second-degree contempt of court, which is akin to disrupting a court proceeding.

The woman, a court employee, has been placed on immediate administrative leave and prohibited from entering any court building.

She was wearing professional dress and asked a reporter to hold open the door as she scampered down the stairs, chased by two court officers who later apprehended her and placed her into custody.

Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million lawsuit that could alter his personal fortune and real estate empire. Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr., and Trump Organization executives are accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of inflating Trump's net worth in order get more favorable loan terms.

Trump returned to court on Tuesday, and returned Wednesday, after not appearing in court several days last week. He is not required to attend.

Trump's lawyers demand fraud trial stopped because of a COVID-19 risk — but none are wearing masks in court
Natalie Musumeci,Laura Italiano | INSIDER
Updated Tue, October 24, 2023 at 10:12 AM MDT

Trump's fraud trial began week four on Tuesday after skipping Monday due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

An unmasked Trump watched as his lawyers asked the trial be halted due to the risk of infection.

The judge declined, saying N95 masks were available in the courtroom to anyone who wanted one.

Donald Trump's attorneys on Tuesday demanded that the former president's New York civil fraud trial be halted immediately due to a COVID-19 risk that could affect the former president himself as he sat in the courtroom.

An unmasked Trump watched as his unmasked lawyers asked the trial be delayed due to the risk of infection, but the judge overseeing the high-profile Manhattan trial quickly shot down that request.

He reminded the parties that if anyone was concerned, N95 masks were available. But for all the hubbub over the "risk," there were no takers, Trump included.

The lead defense lawyer, Christopher Kise, raised the COVID-19 issue before any witnesses took the stand on Tuesday, kicking off the fourth week in the fraud trial, at which New York officials are seeking to ban Trump's real estate empire from the state.

Kise kicked off the COVID kerfuffle, rising from his seat to complain that someone on New York Attorney General Letitia James' team had contracted COVID-19 on Wednesday and that a total of four members of her office had tested positive for the virus. At least two key members of the AG's team, including Kevin Wallace, were not present in court Tuesday morning.

Yet Kise said Trump's team was only alerted to the positive tests over the weekend.

Kise said there were dozens of court staff and attorneys in the room, as well as "literally hundreds of media."

"These individuals are entitled to know this so that we can take appropriate precautions," Kise said.

Kise accused the AG's office, who brought the $250 million fraud lawsuit against Trump, of instead forging ahead because "nothing else matters besides pursuing President Trump."

Tensions were high. Kise and the fellow Trump lawyer Alina Habba at one point demanded that a second hand-held microphone be brought in for the defense to use in cross-examining witnesses so they wouldn't have to use the microphone being used by the AG's office.

At another point during the morning testimony, Assistant Attorney General Louis Solomon asked why Kise was "concerned" about a particular line of questioning.

"Everything in this courtroom concerns me, including your health," Kise shot back at Solomon, his voice sarcastic.

"Well," Solomon responded, half-rising from his seat to get in the last, also sarcastic, word, "thanks for your concern."

The AG's office is, meanwhile, insisting that all notification and quarantine rules have been followed.

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron decided to move ahead with Tuesday's proceedings after hearing arguments from both sides and noting the availability of masks.

A spokesperson for the AG's office told reporters in a statement, "As always, the Attorney General's Office has followed and complied with CDC guidelines. Our office properly notified the court and defendants' counsel, and the court decided to proceed with trial today. If there were any concerns, defendants' counsel could wear masks today or at any point, but they have opted not to."