Leading GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s legal team recently appealed the controversial ruling from New York Judge Arthur Engoron, which ordered him to pay an exorbitant fine of more than $350 million in damages. From the start, conservatives have been highly critical of the civil fraud case brought against Trump by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The case accused the former president, members of his family, and individuals within the Trump organization of committing fraud on financial statements. The defendants were found liable for “persistent and repeated fraud,” “falsifying business records,” “issuing false financial statements,” “conspiracy to falsify false financial statements,” “insurance fraud,” and “conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.”
Trump attorney Christopher Kise elaborated on plans to appeal the decision last month, claiming the court “ignored the law, ignored the facts, and simply signed off on the Attorney General’s manifestly unjust political crusade against the front-running candidate for President of the United States.”
“Legal cases are supposed to be decided based on the application of established legal principles to the actual evidence,” Kise added. “During 44 days of trial, not one witness, not one complaint, and not one victim supported the Attorney General’s manufactured claims of ‘fraud.’ Moreover, the evidence established President Trump’s net worth far exceeded what was reported in his financial statements.”
Judge Engoron was highly critical of Trump’s conduct throughout the trial, stating that he “rarely responded to the questions asked, and he frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial.” Engoron further wrote, “His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility.”
Last month, Trump lawyer Alina Habba was another member of the former president’s legal team who voiced her criticism of the civil fraud trial’s outcome. The American Tribune reported on Habba’s comments who railed against Engoron’s ruling for lacking “common sense” and being “completely absurd.”
“Let’s just go to common sense, because the order that you’re reading is not common sense. It’s absolutely absurd … and for me to try to explain to you how Judge Engoron got to his ridiculous number would mean I have to go speak about politics and the problem with the dual justice system and election interference right now. But the numbers are what they are. What bank, whatever, just write a check. So that’s how they feel they had a right to come in under a consumer fraud statute that’s never been used in this way and butt their nose into two private, sophisticated individuals in a contract that has never been breached. No loan defaults, no loss of money, no victims, no damages,” she said.
Habba continued criticizing the case, suggesting that James and Engoron subjectively determined the proper valuation of Trump’s properties. Business leaders have highlighted this aspect of the case, suggesting it could profoundly impact the New York real estate market and disincentivize deals.
“Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank and Trump have no problems, no lawsuits. No one’s saying they lost money. No one’s saying they were hurt. Everyone’s saying we did our due diligence. Trump’s saying we did our due diligence. Everybody looks at the values. They put a number on it, they get a deal. They make a contract, and then they’re good on the terms of that contract. Where is the harm? Because Ms. James and Judge Engoron say Mar-a-Lago is worth $18 million?” Habba continued.
Watch Habba here:
"*" indicates required fields