Like the drowning scorpion slipping under the water next to the stung and dying frog, Donald Trump could not help himself to violate an explicit court order and make a political speech when Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron extended him the privilege to say a few words about his civil fraud trial after Trump’s defense lawyer concluded his closing argument yesterday.
Engoron warned Trump to stick to the facts and bounds of the case, as he had insisted for days when Trump indicated that he wanted a chance to speak — an agreement that Trump never consented to. And so, after 11 weeks of trial and 44 days in the courtroom, Trump was given five minutes, and then promptly disregarded what the judge told him not to do.
“Well, I think, your honor, that this case goes outside just the facts. The financial statements were perfect, the banks got back their money and are happy as can be.
“When you say don’t go outside of these things, we have a situation where I’m an innocent man, I’ve been persecuted by someone running for office and I think you have to go outside the bounds.
“The financial statements were perfect, there were no witnesses against us … the banks were happy as can be … I spoke to an executive at Zurich, and he said, ‘You didn’t defraud us’ … This does go outside of the bounds …. This is a political witch hunt … we should receive damages for what we’ve gone through … we had millions of pages of documents. They have nothing.
“This is a fraud on me. What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me.
“It’s because I ran for office. They want to make sure I don’t run again … in particular, the person in the room right now [who] hates Trump.
“We have a situation where I’m an innocent man. I’ve been persecuted by someone running for office… I’ve built buildings all over the city. I’ve never had a problem. Until now… they want to make sure I don’t win again. This is election interference.
“They don’t want me here. Let’s get rid of Trump. I’ve done a lot of great things.”
When Engoron held up a finger to show that Trump had one minute to finish, Trump said: “You have your own agenda. You can’t listen for one minute. I understand that.”
Engoron finally addressed Trump’s lawyer: “Mr. Kise, please control your client.”
Said the former president, “You can’t listen for more than one minute. This is a persecution.
“Your honor, look, I did nothing wrong. They should pay me for what we had to go through. What they’ve done to me reputationally and everything else.”
Engoron then ended the episode: “Mr. Kise, this could have been done differently and you would have had a lot more time. Mr. Trump, thank you.”
Engoron should agree to state Attorney General Tish James’ request to impose a $370 million fine and permanently bar Trump from doing business in New York.
Our one complaint about Engoron’s conduct of the trial is that he should have allowed in TV cameras for the trial’s opening and closing arguments, which is permissible under state law. Then the world could have seen Trump’s final outburst.
from New York Daily News https://ift.tt/8CSE2wn