Trump and New York AG Agree in Courtroom Clash: Billion-Dollar Civil Fraud Case Has Morphed Into Something Out of ‘Alice in Wonderland’
Trial judge Arthur Engoron indicated that he would issue rulings on Tuesday — as an appellate battle looms.
Donald Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James do not agree on much in a case alleging billions of dollars of fraudulently inflated assets, but both landed on the same analogy during oral arguments in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday morning.
The high-profile civil case has morphed into something out of “Alice in Wonderland.”
“In defendants’ world there is no objective truth even in the square footage of a New York City condominium, ” Assistant New York Attorney General Andrew Amer said in court.
Amer added later: “Defendants have clearly stepped through the looking glass.”
Christopher Kise, a defense attorney for the former president, echoed that analogy during defense arguments, but he offered a different spin.
“The foundation of the [New York Attorney General’s] case is ignore everything except what we want you to focus on,” Kise said.
Kise argued that the trial judge has ignored the clear mandates of an appellate court depriving him of jurisdiction of most of the remaining claims, which he said were time-barred.
Trump is currently slated to stand trial on Oct. 2, in a case accusing him, two of his sons, and his business entities and associates of perpetrating a massive fraud by misleading banks and insurers about the values of his properties. Amer argued that the trial isn’t necessary on the first of the six claims, alleging fraud, based on the “undisputed” evidence.
If granted, Amer said that the trial would be “streamlined” on evidence of intent to defraud and evidence to support other relief. James has asked the court to bar Trump and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. from ever serving as a director of a New York corporation. The original lawsuit sought $250 million in damages, but the AG now estimates that Trump inflated his assets up to $3.6 billion in a single year alone.
The AG’s office also has sought to sanction Trump for repeating ” frivolous ” arguments, which the judge already had rejected.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who previously found Trump in contempt of court in the investigation that preceded the lawsuit, appeared to agree that the former president’s lawyers didn’t listen.
“You were warned,” Engoron declared at one point in a raised voice.
