This is all getting rather confusing. Shouldn't the person that made false claims in a sworn testimony be the one being charged?Witness in Trump’s classified documents case retracted 'false testimony'
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Eric Tucker
Published Aug 22, 2023 • 2 minute read
WASHINGTON — A witness in the criminal case against Donald Trump over the hoarding of classified documents retracted “prior false testimony” after switching lawyers last month and provided new information that implicated the former president, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
The new information from the witness, a Trump staffer identified only as the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago, was presented to prosecutors weeks before special counsel Jack Smith secured an updated indictment accusing Trump and two others in a plot to delete surveillance video at the Florida property.
Prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday that the witness told a grand jury in Washington in March that he could not recall any conversations about the security footage.
But in July, after being advised by prosecutors that he was a target of the investigation and after being advised that his lawyer might have a conflict of interest because of his representation of others in the probe, the witness received a new attorney from the federal defender’s office and provided the Justice Department with information that helped form the basis of the revised indictment against Trump, his valet Walt Nauta and a third defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, the court filing says.
Prosecutors described the witness interaction in a filing that seeks a hearing in Florida about potential conflicts of interest involving the defence lawyer, Stanley Woodward, who also represents Nauta. Woodward declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press. They said that encounter helps explain why they continued to use a grand jury in Washington to investigate potential false statements in that district even after they had secured an indictment in Florida, where Mar-a-Lago is located.
“The target letter to Trump Employee 4 crystallized a conflict of interest arising from Mr. Woodward’s concurrent representation of Trump Employee 4 and Nauta,” prosecutors wrote.
“Advising Trump Employee 4 to correct his sworn testimony would result in testimony incriminating Mr. Woodward’s other client, Nauta; but permitting Trump Employee 4’s false testimony to stand uncorrected would leave Trump Employee 4 exposed to criminal charges for perjury.”
A trial has been set for May 20, 2024, in the classified documents case. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
Trump is facing another prosecution by Smith over efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, as well as a criminal case in Georgia over attempts to subvert that state’s vote and another in New York in connection to hush money payments to a porn actor.
Prosecutors: Witness in Trump’s classified documents case retracted 'false testimony'
The new information from the witness was presented to prosecutors weeks before special counsel Jack Smith secured an updated indictment.torontosun.com
Donald Trump Announces 2016 White House Bid
- Thread starter B00Mer
- Start date
pretty sure that meme is for Canadian Liberals. dems don't get a capital L
You do realize that you are an irrelevant blow hard , right ?
You really need to stop in at Starbucks and grab a cuppa Sense of Humour (Canadian spelling)
Probably don't have time. Judge Judy coming on soon.
Thirty five bucks American plus shipping and handling .
Trump and 18 others charged in the Georgia election case are set to be arraigned on Sept. 6
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Aug 28, 2023 • 2 minute read
ATLANTA — Former president Donald Trump and the 18 people indicted along with him in Georgia are scheduled to be arraigned next week on charges they participated in a wide-ranging illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
All 19 defendants, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have been scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 6, when they may enter pleas as well, according to court records. Trump starts off the day with a hearing at 9:30 a.m., with the other arraignments set to follow.
Notices posted Monday by Fulton County court officials said that the defendants “must be present” and that face masks must be worn when entering the courthouse.
A Trump spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a question for comment.
The defendants met a Friday deadline to turn themselves in at the Fulton County Jail. Trump was booked Thursday evening — scowling at the camera in the first-ever mug shot of a former president.
All but one of those charged had agreed to a bond amount and conditions with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ahead of time, and they were free to go after booking.
Harrison William Prescott Floyd, who is accused of harassing a Fulton County election worker, did not negotiate a bond ahead of time and remained in the jail after turning himself in last Thursday. Federal court records from Maryland show Floyd, a former U.S. Marine who’s active with the group Black Voices for Trump, was also arrested three months ago on a federal warrant that accuses him of aggressively confronting two FBI agents sent to serve him with a grand jury subpoena.
An attorney for Floyd, Todd A. Harding, noted in a court filing Monday that his client was the only African American man among the defendants and the only one without bond. Harding asked a judge to set a “reasonable bond” for his client at a bond hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Willis, who used Georgia’s racketeering law to bring the case, alleges that the defendants participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally try to keep the Republican president in power even after his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Meadows is seeking to fight the Georgia indictment in federal court. A hearing on transferring his case there from state court was being held Monday. At least four others charged in the indictment are also seeking to move the case to federal court, including U.S. Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Aug 28, 2023 • 2 minute read
ATLANTA — Former president Donald Trump and the 18 people indicted along with him in Georgia are scheduled to be arraigned next week on charges they participated in a wide-ranging illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
All 19 defendants, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have been scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 6, when they may enter pleas as well, according to court records. Trump starts off the day with a hearing at 9:30 a.m., with the other arraignments set to follow.
Notices posted Monday by Fulton County court officials said that the defendants “must be present” and that face masks must be worn when entering the courthouse.
A Trump spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a question for comment.
The defendants met a Friday deadline to turn themselves in at the Fulton County Jail. Trump was booked Thursday evening — scowling at the camera in the first-ever mug shot of a former president.
All but one of those charged had agreed to a bond amount and conditions with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ahead of time, and they were free to go after booking.
Harrison William Prescott Floyd, who is accused of harassing a Fulton County election worker, did not negotiate a bond ahead of time and remained in the jail after turning himself in last Thursday. Federal court records from Maryland show Floyd, a former U.S. Marine who’s active with the group Black Voices for Trump, was also arrested three months ago on a federal warrant that accuses him of aggressively confronting two FBI agents sent to serve him with a grand jury subpoena.
An attorney for Floyd, Todd A. Harding, noted in a court filing Monday that his client was the only African American man among the defendants and the only one without bond. Harding asked a judge to set a “reasonable bond” for his client at a bond hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Willis, who used Georgia’s racketeering law to bring the case, alleges that the defendants participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally try to keep the Republican president in power even after his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Meadows is seeking to fight the Georgia indictment in federal court. A hearing on transferring his case there from state court was being held Monday. At least four others charged in the indictment are also seeking to move the case to federal court, including U.S. Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark.
Trump and 18 others charged in the Georgia election case are set to be arraigned on Sept. 6
Former president Donald Trump and the 18 people indicted along with him in Georgia are scheduled to be arraigned next week.
Trump trial set for March 4, 2024, in federal case charging him with plotting to overturn election
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Eric Tucker, Lindsay Whitehurst And Michael Kunzelman
Published Aug 28, 2023 • 3 minute read
WASHINGTON — A judge on Monday set a March 4, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington charging the former president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting a defence request to push back the case by years.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rebuffed claims by Trump’s attorneys that an April 2026 trial date was necessary to account for the huge volume of evidence they say they are reviewing and to prepare for what they contend is a novel and unprecedented prosecution. But she agreed to postpone the trial slightly beyond the January 2024 date proposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution team.
“The public has a right to a prompt and efficient resolution of this matter,” Chutkan said.
If the current date holds, it would represent a setback to Trump’s efforts to push the case back until well after the 2024 presidential election, a contest in which he’s the early front-runner for the Republican nomination.
The March 2024 date would also ensure a blockbuster trial in the nation’s capital in the heat of the GOP presidential nominating calendar, forcing Trump to juggle campaign and courtroom appearances and coming the day before Super Tuesday — a crucial voting day when more than a dozen states will hold primaries and when the largest number of delegates are up for grabs.
“I want to note here that setting a trial date does not depend and should not depend on the defendant’s personal or professional obligations,” Chutkan said.
Chutkan has so far appeared cool to Trump’s efforts to delay the case but also concerned by social media comments he’s made outside court. This month, she warned Trump’s legal team that there were limits on what he can say publicly about evidence in the investigation. She reiterated her intention Monday for Trump to be “treated with no more or less deference than any defendant would be treated.”
The Washington case is one of four prosecutions Trump is facing. A March 4 trial would take place just weeks before a scheduled New York trial in a case charging him in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actress. Meanwhile in Atlanta on Monday, where Trump and 18 others were charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows argued to try to get the charges against him transferred from state court to federal court.
The setting of the trial date came despite strong objections from Trump lawyer John Lauro. He said defence lawyers had received an enormous trove of records from Smith’s team — a prosecutor put the total at more than 12 million pages and files — and said the case concerned novel legal issues that would require significant time to sort out.
“This is one of the most unique cases from a legal perspective ever brought in the history of the United States. Ever,” Lauro said, calling it an “enormous, overwhelming task” to review such a “gargantuan” amount of evidence.
Prosecutor Molly Gaston countered that the public had an “exceedingly” strong interest in moving the case forward to trial and said that the basic allegations in the indictment have long been known to the defence. Trump, she noted, is accused of “attempting to overturn an election and disenfranchise millions.”
“There is an incredibly strong public interest in a jury’s full consideration of those claims in open court,” Gaston said.
Trump, a Republican, was charged this month in a four-count indictment with scheming to undo his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Smith’s team has brought a separate federal case accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, property, Mar-a-Lago, and refusing to give them back. That case is currently set for trial next May 20.
Trump also faces the state cases in New York and Georgia. A spokesperson for New York’s state court system, Lucian Chalfen, said Chutkan recently spoke with the judge in Trump’s Manhattan criminal case, Juan Manuel Merchan, about their respective trials ahead. Chalfen said no decision has been made regarding postponing or rescheduling the Manhattan trial, which is to begin March 25, 2024.
Trump surrendered Thursday in the Georgia case, posing with a scowl for the first mug shot in American history of a former U.S. president. He has claimed the investigations of him are politically motivated attempts to damage his chances of winning back the White House.
— Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Eric Tucker, Lindsay Whitehurst And Michael Kunzelman
Published Aug 28, 2023 • 3 minute read
WASHINGTON — A judge on Monday set a March 4, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington charging the former president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting a defence request to push back the case by years.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rebuffed claims by Trump’s attorneys that an April 2026 trial date was necessary to account for the huge volume of evidence they say they are reviewing and to prepare for what they contend is a novel and unprecedented prosecution. But she agreed to postpone the trial slightly beyond the January 2024 date proposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution team.
“The public has a right to a prompt and efficient resolution of this matter,” Chutkan said.
If the current date holds, it would represent a setback to Trump’s efforts to push the case back until well after the 2024 presidential election, a contest in which he’s the early front-runner for the Republican nomination.
The March 2024 date would also ensure a blockbuster trial in the nation’s capital in the heat of the GOP presidential nominating calendar, forcing Trump to juggle campaign and courtroom appearances and coming the day before Super Tuesday — a crucial voting day when more than a dozen states will hold primaries and when the largest number of delegates are up for grabs.
“I want to note here that setting a trial date does not depend and should not depend on the defendant’s personal or professional obligations,” Chutkan said.
Chutkan has so far appeared cool to Trump’s efforts to delay the case but also concerned by social media comments he’s made outside court. This month, she warned Trump’s legal team that there were limits on what he can say publicly about evidence in the investigation. She reiterated her intention Monday for Trump to be “treated with no more or less deference than any defendant would be treated.”
The Washington case is one of four prosecutions Trump is facing. A March 4 trial would take place just weeks before a scheduled New York trial in a case charging him in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actress. Meanwhile in Atlanta on Monday, where Trump and 18 others were charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows argued to try to get the charges against him transferred from state court to federal court.
The setting of the trial date came despite strong objections from Trump lawyer John Lauro. He said defence lawyers had received an enormous trove of records from Smith’s team — a prosecutor put the total at more than 12 million pages and files — and said the case concerned novel legal issues that would require significant time to sort out.
“This is one of the most unique cases from a legal perspective ever brought in the history of the United States. Ever,” Lauro said, calling it an “enormous, overwhelming task” to review such a “gargantuan” amount of evidence.
Prosecutor Molly Gaston countered that the public had an “exceedingly” strong interest in moving the case forward to trial and said that the basic allegations in the indictment have long been known to the defence. Trump, she noted, is accused of “attempting to overturn an election and disenfranchise millions.”
“There is an incredibly strong public interest in a jury’s full consideration of those claims in open court,” Gaston said.
Trump, a Republican, was charged this month in a four-count indictment with scheming to undo his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Smith’s team has brought a separate federal case accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, property, Mar-a-Lago, and refusing to give them back. That case is currently set for trial next May 20.
Trump also faces the state cases in New York and Georgia. A spokesperson for New York’s state court system, Lucian Chalfen, said Chutkan recently spoke with the judge in Trump’s Manhattan criminal case, Juan Manuel Merchan, about their respective trials ahead. Chalfen said no decision has been made regarding postponing or rescheduling the Manhattan trial, which is to begin March 25, 2024.
Trump surrendered Thursday in the Georgia case, posing with a scowl for the first mug shot in American history of a former U.S. president. He has claimed the investigations of him are politically motivated attempts to damage his chances of winning back the White House.
— Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
Trump trial set for March 4, 2024, in federal case charging him with plotting to overturn election
A judge on Monday set a March 4, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington.
Judge enters default judgment against Giuliani in defamation lawsuit from Georgia election workers
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Eric Tucker
Published Aug 30, 2023 • 1 minute read
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge entered a default judgment Wednesday against Rudy Giuliani in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of participating in fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell also ordered Giuliani to pay more than $130,000 in lawyers’ fees and other costs for shirking his duty to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea’ ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit.
Their lawsuit from December 2021 accused Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers and a confidant of the former Republican president, of defaming them by falsely stating that they had engaged in fraud while counting ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
“Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention,” Howell wrote.
Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, said in a statement that the judge’s ruling “is a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment. This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI.”
Last month, Giuliani conceded that he made public comments falsely claiming the election workers committed ballot fraud during the 2020 election, but he contended that the statements were protected by the First Amendment.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Eric Tucker
Published Aug 30, 2023 • 1 minute read
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge entered a default judgment Wednesday against Rudy Giuliani in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of participating in fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell also ordered Giuliani to pay more than $130,000 in lawyers’ fees and other costs for shirking his duty to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea’ ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit.
Their lawsuit from December 2021 accused Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers and a confidant of the former Republican president, of defaming them by falsely stating that they had engaged in fraud while counting ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
“Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention,” Howell wrote.
Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, said in a statement that the judge’s ruling “is a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment. This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI.”
Last month, Giuliani conceded that he made public comments falsely claiming the election workers committed ballot fraud during the 2020 election, but he contended that the statements were protected by the First Amendment.
Judge enters default judgment against Giuliani in defamation lawsuit from Georgia election workers
The lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of participating in fraud during the 2020 election.
Trump dismissive as New York attorney general accuses him of inflating his net worth by $2 billion
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michael R. Sisak
Published Aug 30, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
NEW YORK — Donald Trump defended his real estate empire and his presidency in a face-to-face clash with the New York attorney general suing him for fraud, testifying at a closed-door grilling in April that his company is flush with cash — and claiming he saved “millions of lives” by deterring nuclear war when he was president.
Trump, in testimony made public Wednesday, said it was a “terrible thing” that Attorney General Letitia James was suing him over claims he made on annual financial statements about his net worth and the value of his skyscrapers, golf courses and other assets.
Trump’s lawyers released Trump’s 479-page deposition transcript in a flurry of court filings ahead of a Sept. 22 hearing where a judge could resolve part or all of the lawsuit before it goes to trial in October. James said evidence shows Trump fraudulently inflated his net worth by up to 39%, or more than $2 billion, in some years.
Sitting across from James at her Manhattan office on April 13, Trump said, “you don’t have a case and you should drop this case.” Noting his contributions to the city’s skyline, Trump said “it’s a shame” that “now I have to come and justify myself to you.”
Interrogated about the truthfulness of financial statements he gave to banks, Trump repeatedly insisted that, legally speaking, it didn’t matter whether they were accurate or not.
“I have a clause in there that says, ‘Don’t believe the statement. Go out and do your own work.’ This statement is ‘worthless.’ It means nothing,” Trump testified. Given the disclaimer, he said, “you’re supposed to pay no credence to what we say whatsoever.”
In a legal filing Wednesday, James urged Judge Arthur Engoron to grant summary judgment on one of seven claims in her lawsuit — that Trump and his company defrauded lenders, insurers and others by lying about his wealth and the value of his assets.
To rule, Engoron needs only to answer two questions, James’ office argued: whether Trump’s annual financial statements were false or misleading, and whether he and the Trump Organization used those statements while conducting business transactions.
“The answer to both questions is a resounding ‘yes’ based on the mountain of undisputed evidence” in the case, James’ special litigation counsel Andrew Amer said in a 100-page summary judgment motion.
Even if Engoron rules on the fraud claim, he would still preside over a non-jury trial on six other remaining claims in the lawsuit if it is not settled.
Trump’s lawyers are asking Engoron to dismiss the case entirely.
They argue that many of its allegations are barred by a statute of limitations and that James has no standing to sue because the entities Trump supposedly defrauded “have never complained, and indeed have profited from their business dealings” with him.
Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination in next year’s presidential election, has been indicted four times in the last five months — accused in Georgia and Washington, D.C., of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss, in Florida of hoarding classified documents, and in Manhattan of falsifying business records related to hush money paid on his behalf. Some of Trump’s criminal trials are scheduled to overlap with the presidential primary season.
James sued Trump last September, alleging he inflated the value of assets like his Mar-a-Lago estate for at least a decade. Her lawsuit seeks $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
Trump testified that he only had the financial statements made so he could see a list of his many properties and said he “never felt that these statements would be taken very seriously,” but that financial institutions would occasionally ask for them. Some of the values listed were based on “guesstimates,” he conceded.
Trump answered questions with such verbosity at the April deposition — veering from evasiveness to bluster to filibuster at times — that one lawyer worried his seven hours of sworn testimony could go until midnight.
It was a reversal from a deposition last year, before James filed her lawsuit, in which Trump refused to answer all but a few procedural questions. At that earlier deposition, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
Trump testified in April that his company, the Trump Organization, has over $400 million in cash. He claimed Mar-a-Lago is worth $1.5 billion and a golf course he owns near Miami is worth $2 billion or $2.5 billion. He said he believes he could sell another golf course he owns in Scotland to the Saudi-backed LIV golf league “for a fortune.”
“Do you know the banks were fully paid? Do you know the banks made a lot of money?” Trump testified. “Do you know I don’t believe I ever got even a default notice, and even during COVID, the banks were all paid? And yet you’re suing on behalf of banks, I guess. It’s crazy. The whole case is crazy.”
Trump is not expected to testify in court if the case goes to trial, but video recordings of his depositions could be played.
In his deposition, Trump testified that once he became president, he stopped paying much attention to his business because he needed to focus on world affairs.
“I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn’t deal with North Korea,” Trump testified. “I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren’t elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth.”
— Associated Press reporters Jennifer Peltz and David B. Caruso contributed to this report.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michael R. Sisak
Published Aug 30, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
NEW YORK — Donald Trump defended his real estate empire and his presidency in a face-to-face clash with the New York attorney general suing him for fraud, testifying at a closed-door grilling in April that his company is flush with cash — and claiming he saved “millions of lives” by deterring nuclear war when he was president.
Trump, in testimony made public Wednesday, said it was a “terrible thing” that Attorney General Letitia James was suing him over claims he made on annual financial statements about his net worth and the value of his skyscrapers, golf courses and other assets.
Trump’s lawyers released Trump’s 479-page deposition transcript in a flurry of court filings ahead of a Sept. 22 hearing where a judge could resolve part or all of the lawsuit before it goes to trial in October. James said evidence shows Trump fraudulently inflated his net worth by up to 39%, or more than $2 billion, in some years.
Sitting across from James at her Manhattan office on April 13, Trump said, “you don’t have a case and you should drop this case.” Noting his contributions to the city’s skyline, Trump said “it’s a shame” that “now I have to come and justify myself to you.”
Interrogated about the truthfulness of financial statements he gave to banks, Trump repeatedly insisted that, legally speaking, it didn’t matter whether they were accurate or not.
“I have a clause in there that says, ‘Don’t believe the statement. Go out and do your own work.’ This statement is ‘worthless.’ It means nothing,” Trump testified. Given the disclaimer, he said, “you’re supposed to pay no credence to what we say whatsoever.”
In a legal filing Wednesday, James urged Judge Arthur Engoron to grant summary judgment on one of seven claims in her lawsuit — that Trump and his company defrauded lenders, insurers and others by lying about his wealth and the value of his assets.
To rule, Engoron needs only to answer two questions, James’ office argued: whether Trump’s annual financial statements were false or misleading, and whether he and the Trump Organization used those statements while conducting business transactions.
“The answer to both questions is a resounding ‘yes’ based on the mountain of undisputed evidence” in the case, James’ special litigation counsel Andrew Amer said in a 100-page summary judgment motion.
Even if Engoron rules on the fraud claim, he would still preside over a non-jury trial on six other remaining claims in the lawsuit if it is not settled.
Trump’s lawyers are asking Engoron to dismiss the case entirely.
They argue that many of its allegations are barred by a statute of limitations and that James has no standing to sue because the entities Trump supposedly defrauded “have never complained, and indeed have profited from their business dealings” with him.
Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination in next year’s presidential election, has been indicted four times in the last five months — accused in Georgia and Washington, D.C., of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss, in Florida of hoarding classified documents, and in Manhattan of falsifying business records related to hush money paid on his behalf. Some of Trump’s criminal trials are scheduled to overlap with the presidential primary season.
James sued Trump last September, alleging he inflated the value of assets like his Mar-a-Lago estate for at least a decade. Her lawsuit seeks $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
Trump testified that he only had the financial statements made so he could see a list of his many properties and said he “never felt that these statements would be taken very seriously,” but that financial institutions would occasionally ask for them. Some of the values listed were based on “guesstimates,” he conceded.
Trump answered questions with such verbosity at the April deposition — veering from evasiveness to bluster to filibuster at times — that one lawyer worried his seven hours of sworn testimony could go until midnight.
It was a reversal from a deposition last year, before James filed her lawsuit, in which Trump refused to answer all but a few procedural questions. At that earlier deposition, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
Trump testified in April that his company, the Trump Organization, has over $400 million in cash. He claimed Mar-a-Lago is worth $1.5 billion and a golf course he owns near Miami is worth $2 billion or $2.5 billion. He said he believes he could sell another golf course he owns in Scotland to the Saudi-backed LIV golf league “for a fortune.”
“Do you know the banks were fully paid? Do you know the banks made a lot of money?” Trump testified. “Do you know I don’t believe I ever got even a default notice, and even during COVID, the banks were all paid? And yet you’re suing on behalf of banks, I guess. It’s crazy. The whole case is crazy.”
Trump is not expected to testify in court if the case goes to trial, but video recordings of his depositions could be played.
In his deposition, Trump testified that once he became president, he stopped paying much attention to his business because he needed to focus on world affairs.
“I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn’t deal with North Korea,” Trump testified. “I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren’t elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth.”
— Associated Press reporters Jennifer Peltz and David B. Caruso contributed to this report.
Trump dismissive as New York attorney general accuses him of inflating his net worth by $2 billion
Donald Trump defended his real estate empire and his presidency in a clash with the New York attorney general suing him for fraud.