Judge Denies Trump Right to Give Closing Argument in Fraud Case

Donald Trump had wanted to do his own closing argument for the New York fraud case presided over by Judge Engoron.

Initially, Engoron ruled that Trump could speak. However, he reversed his decision on Wednesday.

Then, on Thursday, Engoron had another change of heart and did allow Trump to speak with stipulations in place.

Denied, Never Mind

When Engoron initially agreed to allow Trump to speak, he was told that he could not “comment on irrelevant matters,” nor would he be permitted to make a “campaign speech” during the comments.

Trump did not want to agree to the terms, so Engoron rescinded the decision.

When Thursday arrived, Engoron, for some reason, had a change of heart and allowed Trump to speak.

My best guess here is that Engoron did not want to see Trump have any grounds to have the case overturned, so he decided to let Trump speak, and speak he did.

In typical Trump fashion, he came out swinging and did not stop until Engoron’s face turned red with anger.

Trump stated, “The financial statements were perfect, there were no witnesses against us, the banks got paid back… the banks are as happy as can be… there’s no fraud. What’s happened here sir, is a fraud on me. This is a political witch hunt… we should receive damages for what we’ve gone through.

“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.”

At this point, Engoron held up a finger to notify Trump that he had one minute left to wrap it up, and Trump went off, stating, “You can’t listen for more than one minute. This is a persecution—”

Engoron then told Trump’s attorney to get his client under control.

Trump’s attorney also spent about two hours doing his closing argument, to which Engoron replied, “Thank you, Mr. Kise. That was quite a feat of endurance.”

As I have stated before, Engoron was going through the motions and has clearly made up his mind, so I fully expect a decision in favor of the plaintiff to be issued by Engoron.

The only question at this point is how much Money will be awarded.