Donald Trump’s lawyers ask judge to end civil fraud trial, seeking verdict in ex-president’s favor
Trump’s lawyers are seeking a directed verdict, asking Judge
“There’s no victim. There’s no complainant. There’s no injury. All of that is established now by the evidence," Trump lawyer
Trump lawyer
State lawyer
The evidence is “more than sufficient to continue to final verdict,” Wallace argued.
Kise implored Engoron, who has yet to rule, to give special weight to Trump’s testimony Monday, citing the ex-president's decades of experience as a real estate developer. He argued that James, in pursuit of a political opponent, was trying to “substitute her judgment for that of the banks and, frankly, for that of someone who has been involved in the real estate industry for 50 years.”
On the stand Monday, between barbs for his adversaries, Trump denied wrongdoing and said lenders were “extremely happy” doing business with him. If anything, Trump testified, his financial statements low-balled his wealth and the value of assets such as his Mar-a-Lago estate in
Kise said Thursday, that when talking real estate, “if my choices were
Robert said Eric and
“I’m sorry to say that my clients have been dragged into what is essentially a fight between the attorney general and their father, but here we are," Robert said. "The time has come that we need to put an end to it.”
Wallace countered that Trump, and his sons each signed documents saying that they were responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements, which Engoron has already ruled were false and misleading.
The lawyers were making their arguments in court a day after Trump’s daughter
Directed verdict requests are common in civil trials. In this case, Engoron is tasked with deciding the outcome rather than a jury. He has signaled interest in seeing the trial to its conclusion, asking defense lawyers for witness schedules and pegging closing arguments for mid-December.
Engoron has repeatedly ruled against Trump in the past, most consequentially in a decision before the trial that the 2024 Republican front-runner, his company and other defendants committed fraud by exaggerating his net worth and the value of assets on his financial statements, which were used to obtain loans and make deals.
Engoron’s pretrial fraud ruling came with provisions that could strip the ex-president of oversight of such marquee properties as
The state rested its case Wednesday after six weeks of testimony from more than two dozen witnesses. James is seeking the return of what she says is more than
Trump testified on Monday. Eric and
Kise emphasized that lender
Kise also attacked Trump lawyer-turned-foe Michael Cohen’s credibility. He said Cohen undermined the state’s case when he backtracked from his initial testimony that Trump had directed him to boost the value of assets to “whatever number Trump told us to.”
Pressed on cross-examination during his
The sides are spending Thursday making legal arguments known as motions, including the defense’s directed verdict bid. Trump’s side is scheduled to start calling witnesses on Monday, though that would be moot if Engoron ended the trial with a directed verdict.
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