LOSING: New York judge deals Trump yet another setback
Donald Trump may need a course in juggling to keep up with all his legal cases, especially now that several of them are moving past the investigation stage, all at once.
While waiting for potential indictments in both his election interference case in Georgia, and his hush-money case in Manhattan, Trump is also facing a $250 million fraud case from the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, and it’s in this case that he just suffered a setback.
Trump managed to, essentially, fully evade his legal issues (other than a few impeachments) while he was in the White House and has been generally able to pull off multiple delays of court proceedings, but this time he’s been shot down.
He’d filed a request for more time to review the evidence against him in a lawsuit brought by the NY A.G. that alleges that he and his family have a longstanding practice of falsifying the values of properties and other assets, alternately inflating and minimizing the amounts in order to dodge tax liabilities and obtain financial benefits, like loans, that they might not otherwise be entitled to.
Actually, it turns out there was a slight delay in civil court Tuesday morning — of around half an hour, though, rather than the 6 months Trump sought.
This was due to protests apparently connected to the aforementioned hush-money case, in which Trump had predicted an indictment to fall on this day.
As for his filing, Judge Arthur Engoron rejected it, saying that the trial date is “written in stone” and that Trump doesn’t seem to have much in the way of defense against the charges, anyway.
“In commenting on the simplicity of the case, Engoron noted that Trump’s defenses would be limited under New York law. He said that “Everyone was doing it” and “Those parties could reach their own conclusions” are not legal defenses.”
Trump lashed out at both the judge and Attorney General James on his social media, posting:
“[James] then brought a completely bogus lawsuit, which is presided over by an A.G. picked, Trump hating [sic] Judge, a political hack whose Court this case should not be in – It shoud [sic] be in the Commercial Division, but he wouldn’t let go, is pushing it hard, and knows exactly what he wants to do….”
Historically, public attacks on a judge’s integrity aren’t known for improving the outcome for a defendant.
Still, that doesn’t stop Trump from keeping this tactic on tap.
James has already won a similar case against Trump’s company, and in January, PBS reported that Trump had dropped a lawsuit against her after being scolded for frivolous cases.
Steph Bazzle covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph.
