Donald Trump appeared in Manhattan district court on Monday at the beginning of the civil fraud trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump and his business associates, including his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, accused of fraudulently inflating the value of the Trump Organization’s assets to obtain favorable loans and deals. For his part, James is trying to get the payment of a $250 million fine and a ban on members of the Trump family doing business in New York.
Fiscal general Letitia James: “No matter how powerful they are, no matter how much money they think they have, no one is above the law. And it’s my responsibility, my duty and my job to do that. The law is powerful and weak at the same time. And now, in court, we will prove our case.
Trump will undergo a scheduled bench trial led by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron after the lawyers representing the former president did not request a jury trial. Speaking to reporters outside the court building on Monday, Trump attacked Attorney General James, who is African-American, calling him a “racist” and calling Judge Engoron a “disgrace.”
Donald Trump: “He is a Democratic (undercover) agent and a disgrace to the people who call themselves judges. (…) This is a judge who should be disqualified. This is a judge who should be removed from office . “This is a judge that some people say could be charged with a crime for what he did.”
On Monday, more than 30 civil rights organizations, including Washington Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics and Public Citizen, published an open letter calling for protections for jurors serving in the four cases. of the criminal that Trump is now facing. The letter mentions the harassment that jurors in the state of Georgia and in the city of Washington, DC, have suffered at the hands of Trump, adding: “These attacks threaten centuries-old American institutions designed of the founders of the nation to be prevented. accounts of any leader who wants to be king.”
