New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engeron, publicly and on the record, admonished Former President Donald Trump during Monday’s proceedings when the former President was to take the stand in his defense in his civil fraud trial. Judge Engeron warned Trump to keep his answers on topic and concise and not to turn the trial into a “political rally.” This recent warning comes after Trump was fined $10,000 by the same judge for making what the judge considered to be inflammatory remarks and comments outside of the court. Judge Engeron further admonished both Trump and one of his attornies, Chris Kise, for long-winded answers that didn’t have anything to do with either the question asked or the case in general.
“We don’t have time to waste. We have one day to do this,” an exasperated Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engeron said at one point. At another, he said, “In addition to the answers being non-responsive, they’re repetitive.”
“Mr. Kise, can you control your client? This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom,” Engeron told Trump lawyer Christopher Kise, who himself has clashed with the judge.
The judge later added: “I do not want to hear everything this witness has to say. He has a lot to say that has nothing to do with the case or the questions.”
During Trump’s time on the witness stand, his testimony matched previous testimony given by his two sons, Eric and Donald Trump, Jr, where all three minimized their involvement in preparing the financial statements and records that were used to assess the value of some of Trump’s properties that are at the heart of the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Judge Engeron and Trump have clashed several times in court, with Trump sometimes taking the judge’s comments as either an attack or an insult while he was answering questions from the state’s legal team.
“First of all it’s so long ago, it’s well beyond the statute of limitations,” Trump said before turning on the judge, saying he allowed state lawyers to pursue claims involving such years-old documents “because he always rules against me.”
Engoron said: “You can attack me in whichever way you want but please answer the questions.”
Trump’s legal woes in this case started when Attorney General James brought the case against him in September of 2022, accusing Trump of business fraud.
At the press event, James accused the former president, his family, and his organization of “persistent and repeated business fraud.”
The civil lawsuit, filed Wednesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeks a $250 million judgment and a prohibition on any of the Trumps leading a company in the state of New York.
Among other allegations, the suit claims that the former president’s Florida estate and golf resort, Mar-a-Lago, was valued as high as $739 million, but should have been valued at around one-tenth that amount, at $75 million. The suit says that higher valuation was “based on the false premise that it was unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use even though Mr. Trump himself signed deeds donating his residential development rights and sharply restricting changes to the property.”
James is referring her findings to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who could possibly open a criminal investigation into bank fraud, according to a footnote in the lawsuit.
According to the Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, the lawsuit is “neither focused on the facts nor the law — rather, it is solely focused on advancing the Attorney General’s political agenda.”
The Attorney General’s office will supposedly rest their case after Ivanka Trump testifies, which is expected on Wednesday. After that, Trump’s legal team will be able to present their defense and are expected to take the case all the way to late December, before Christmas, before concluding and handing the case back over to Judge Engeron for his final judgment. After the judgment is entered, regardless of the outcome, Trump will then continue his legal fight in Georgia regarding alleged election interference in that state, as well as in two federal cases regarding election interference and classified documents.
