Closing arguments in New York’s civil fraud trial against Donald Trump took place on Thursday, and despite having been officially barred from personally delivering his defense’s closing statements, the former president launched into an unauthorized rant before the court and Judge Arthur Engoron.
Sources told Rolling Stone that Trump had been rehearsing what he thought would be a blistering, dramatic conclusion to the case that will determine the fate of his business empire.
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Based on what the two sources relay to Rolling Stone this week, it appears Engoron’s assumption that Trump would use the forum to rave about his own grievances was right on the money. The former president’s private “rehearsing” of what he planned to say included haranguing the judge’s staff, railing against the New York attorney general as “racist” and soft on crime, claiming that the trial was an example of the Democratic Party and Biden administration supposedly trying to “rig” the 2024 election, and gratuitously boasting of the values of his sprawling business and real-estate empire, among other jabs and bluster.
My guess (also not a lawyer) is to render the verdict as appeal proof as possible. If he wasn’t allowed to speak, he would have claimed that his rights were violated and if he had been allowed to give the closing remarks himself, he would have been found totally Innocent.
Engoron let him talk relatively briefly, cut him off when it was clear he wasn’t staying on topic, and closed off this appeal argument.
This 100%. Trump’s whole playbook is to delay the inevitable. It’s clear he’s just pushing everything until he has the Republican nomination, and then it doesn’t matter what happens, he’ll be considered too big to fail by Republicans, and get as much protection as he can from them.
You’re probably right but it still pisses me off. No one else gets to pull that shit. Defendants that want to be heard in court can take the stand and all the risks that come with cross examination.
Would that even be a concern, though? I mean, it’s my understanding that the judge has already ruled in this case, and this was just about establishing penalties, right?
He would file an appeal that would surely fail. But it would delay payment of the fine.
I mean, let’s be real here. Trump’s 100% going to file an appeal no matter what Engoron does.
It’s not a question of if, but how many.
And how much traction they get, or if they’re even heard at all.