Donald Trump lashed out on Wednesday at the judge presiding
over his civil fraud trial in New York and told him ahead of testimony by his
eldest son, Don Jr, to “leave my children alone.”
Don Jr, 45, and his younger brother, Eric Trump, 39, are
expected to take the witness stand this week in the trial for financial fraud
that threatens to deal a heavy blow to the former president’s business empire.
Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential
nomination, attacked Judge Arthur Engoron, who is hearing the case, in a series
of scathing posts on his Truth Social platform, calling him a “political hack”
who is “doing the dirty work for the Democrat Party.”
“Engoron is crazy, totally unhinged, and dangerous,” the
77-year-old former president said. “Leave my children alone, Engoron. You are a
disgrace to the legal profession!”
If all goes according to the court schedule, Don Jr will
testify on Wednesday followed on Thursday by Eric Trump.
Both are executive vice presidents of the Trump
Organization, a sprawling network of companies managing residential and office
skyscrapers, luxury hotels and golf courses around the world.
New York state attorney general Letitia James accuses the
brothers — and their father — of fraudulently inflating the value of the
group’s assets by billions of dollars to obtain more favorable bank loans and
insurance terms.
Trump himself may be questioned on Monday, a day shy of one
year before the November 5, 2024 presidential election that he hopes will sweep
him back into the White House.
The former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, who left the
Trump Organization in 2017 to join the White House as an advisor to her father,
may follow two days later. She is not a defendant in the case but was
previously involved in the family business.
– ‘There was no
fraud’ –
Don Jr and Eric Trump took control of the Trump Organization
when their father entered the White House and are unlikely to deviate from the
line taken by the family’s defense attorneys since the trial began a month ago.
They assert that the subjective valuations of the group’s
assets, such as Trump Tower and a building at 40 Wall Street, were sincere and
banks did not lose any money lending to the Trump Organization.
“The Banks and
Insurance Companies were paid in full, no defaults, they all made money, and
there is no Victim (except me!)” Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday. “My
Financial Statements are GREAT! There was no fraud.”
Trump also said he would appeal a partial gag order imposed
by Engoron on October 3 that bars him from attacking court staff — though not
the judge himself.
Engoron has fined the former president twice already —
$5,000 and $10,000 — for violating the order by attacking his law clerk.
The former president does not risk going to jail in the
fraud trial, but faces up to $250 million in penalties and potential removal
along with his sons from management of the family real estate empire.
Trump is not required to attend the trial, but he has shown
up sporadically, using his appearances to portray himself as the victim of a
supposed Democratic plot to derail his White House campaign.
The civil fraud trial is one of several legal battles facing
Trump as he seeks to recapture the presidency.
He is to go on trial in Washington in March for conspiring
to overturn the results of the 2020 election and in Florida in May on charges
of mishandling top secret government documents.
The twice-impeached former president also faces racketeering
charges in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to upend the election results in
the southern state after his 2020 defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.
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