Trump Denied Motion for Dismissal in Fraud Case

The moment that Donald Trump walked into that New York courtroom, he was destined to lose.

He had an Attorney General who ran on taking him down and a judge who issued a partial summary judgment against him before the trial had even started.

So, it was no surprise to see that yet another attempt at having the case dismissed was brushed aside by Judge Engoron.

Bad Day for Trump

After Trump’s accounting expert Eli Bartov testified, Trump posted on Truth Social that his guy knocked it out of the park and the case should be dismissed.

Most of Bartov’s testimony, however, was a simple denial that Trump did nothing wrong, which was at the center of Engoron’s denial.

Engoron blasted the testimony, writing, "Bartov is a tenured professor, but all that his testimony proves is that for a million or so dollars, some experts will say whatever you want them to say.” Engoron was referring to reports that Bartov was reportedly paid $900,000 to testify as Trump's expert witness.

Trump’s defense continuously stated that there was no victim of this alleged crime, to which Engoron also responded. He wrote, "That the instant lenders made millions of dollars and were happy with the transactions does not mean that they were not damaged by lending at lower interest rates than they otherwise would have.”

Engoron concluded, “A lie is still a lie,” denying the motion for a dismissal.

Judge Engoron has been against Trump from the outset, and the situation never improved for Trump.

Virtually every report I have read on the trial more or less had Engoron going through the motions to pacify the Defense solely for the purpose of not having a mistrial or having his verdict overturned.

I still hold that the valuations of Trump’s properties were startlingly low. Using Mar-a-Lago as an example, the property was valuated at about $28 million when properties one-tenth the size of Mar-a-Lago are selling for $60 million.

To that point, I think that Trump has a very good case on appeal, but I would still think he will wind up getting hit with some fines, just not the $250 million Letitia James is seeking.