Donald Trump Clashes with Judge in Civil Fraud Case
Donald Trump Clashes with Judge in Civil Fraud Case
Trump, as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said that the fraud case against him is politically motivated.
By Rakesh Raman
Former U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly clashed with the judge on Monday (November 6) during the New York civil fraud case that he is facing in his real estate business.
As Trump was accusing the judge of holding a “very unfair” and “crazy” trial, the New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron had to struggle to tame Trump. At one point in time, the judge admonished Trump and asked him to keep his answers short, as it was not a political rally.
Justice Engoron also asked Trump’s lawyers to control their client as he was making obnoxious statements in the courtroom.
In the past, Trump has been accused of multiple crimes including an attempt of insurrection with the aim to subvert the transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden who had won the presidential election in 2020.
But Trump has proved time and again that he is above the law and the weak American judiciary cannot hold him accountable for his countless crimes. The American laws have, in fact, succumbed to Trump’s blatant refusal to obey them in multiple cases that he has been facing.
With his appearance in the courtroom on November 6, Trump, 77, became the first former U.S. President in more than a century to take the stand as a defendant in a court case. Earlier, former president Theodore Roosevelt testified publicly as a defendant and took the stand during a 1915 libel trial.
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Trump along with his eldest sons Don Jr and Eric Trump, as well as other Trump Organization executives are accused of wrongly inflating the value of their real estate assets by billions of dollars to take more favorable bank loans and insurance deals.
Trump dismissed the allegations which if proved right can cripple his real estate business, as Trump and his sons face up to $250 million in penalties and possible removal from the management of the family business.
Trump, as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said that the fraud case against him is politically motivated and tantamount to election interference by his rivals in the Democratic party.
However, New York state Attorney General Letitia James asserted before Trump’s arrival in the courtroom that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the former president had repeatedly misrepresented and inflated the value of his assets. “And numbers, my friends, don’t lie,” James said.
Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric, who took the stand a week ago, admitted the wrongdoing but blamed company accountants for inaccuracies in the financial statements.
Reports suggest that Justice Engoron ruled before opening arguments that James’s office had shown “conclusive evidence” that Trump had overstated his net worth on financial documents by between $812 million and $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.
On the basis of existing evidence, the judge ordered the liquidation of the companies managing Trump assets including the Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street skyscrapers in Manhattan, although Trump has the opportunity to appeal.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He has also been publishing The Unrest news magazine that covers economic and political upheavals in the world.
