JUDGE DREAD: Did lawyers for Trump just screw up royally in his NY valuations case?
Disgraced former president Donald Trump will face judgment handed down from the bench, rather than a jury box in his Manhattan trial.
The question, however, is: did Donald Trump’s attorneys screw up, or is he intentionally muddying the waters?
It’s not clear why the former president would choose not to have a jury trial, which is clearly his right as a defendant when he’s claimed the judge is biased against him. This raises questions about whether he’s aware of what his attorneys are doing (and whether those lawyers are actually competent).
Trump will go to trial in this case — brought by N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James for allegedly falsifying valuations of properties and misstating his wealth in order to access tax breaks and other financial benefits — on October 2nd, less than a month away.
The trial is expected to end by December 22nd and will be a bench trial, meaning the decision is handed down by a judge, rather than a jury.
It’s raising the question of what, exactly, Trump and his attorneys are thinking, since a single pro-Trump juror refusing to judge the former president on the evidence could be his saving grace.
But then, perhaps Trump himself doesn’t know. He posted on September 1st (edited because all-caps is uncomfortable to read):
“In the NYS A.G. Letitia James case, I was targeted, given no jury, no extensions, no commercial division, no constitutional rights, no anything! The Democrat judge hates Trump with a passion!”
He was, indeed, denied an extension, with Judge Arthur Engoron issuing a single-sentence response calling his motion “without merit,” according to Reuters.
He was also denied a move to the commercial division, though the notion that he’s been unfairly “targeted” and that he’s being denied constitutional rights are both Trump’s opinions, not necessarily supported by fact.
The jury, though, is a clear and straightforward matter — if Trump’s attorney had requested one, he would have been granted a jury. Legal AF analyst Michael Popok explains:
“Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba forgot to post the fees and give the notice to request a jury. In New York, within 15 days of a lawsuit you have to make a jury demand…so Donald Trump accidentally — which in my opinion could be legal malpractice — waived the jury trial and that’s why it’s going to go in front of Judge Arthur Engoron.”
Whether it was merely a mistake from an attorney whose job description may rely more heavily on Fox News appearances than court appearances, or a desperate hope to find an excuse for an appeal, the failure to request a jury trial may be a serious miscalculation on Trump’s part, especially if James is bringing the overwhelming evidence that can be expected.
In fact, he seems determined to make her case — which, remember, is a claim that he has falsified his net worth and the values of his properties — for her.
Tuesday morning on TruthSocial, he declared:
“I have easily shown & proven that I am worth Billions of Dollars more than information listed on my Financial Statements…”
Does he not realize that the financial statements are supposed to be true?
Correction: An earlier version of this story had an erroneous photo in the graphic. A photo of Judge Arthur Engoron is now correctly substituted.
