Earlier this week, in his New York real estate case testimony, former president Donald Trump attempted to read aloud from a “exonerating document,” but was prevented from doing so by the presiding judge.
The President informed his Truth Social followers that Judge Arthur Engoron denied his request to view a financial disclaimer that is included with every set of financial data that his real estate firm submits to banks. Disclaimers of this nature are commonly employed to reiterate to readers that financial professionals are encouraged to form their own conclusions based on the information provided.
“This is the Paper that I wanted to submit that the Judge refused to take, because he doesn’t want anybody to know about the Disclaimer Clause at the beginning of each Financial Statement. This is just part of it! That case is a disgrace to the Legal and Judicial System of New York. Hopefully the Appellate Courts will stop this travesty of Justice that everybody is watching and fully understanding!” Trump penned.
The disclaimer reads:
Disclaimers Provided to Banks in Each Financial Statement:
Considerable judgment is necessary to interpret market data and develop the related estimates of current value. Accordingly, the estimates presented herein are not necessarily indicative of the amounts that could be realized upon the disposition of the assets or payment of the related liabilities. The use of different market assumptions and/or estimation methodologies may have a material effect on the estimated current value amounts.
Because the significance and pervasiveness of the matters discussed above make it difficult to assess their impact on the statement of financial condition, users of this financial statement should recognize that they might reach different conclusions about the financial condition of Donald J. Trump if they had access to a revised statement of financial condition without the above referenced exceptions to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
“I would love to read this, Your Honor, if I could? Am I allowed to do that?” as reported by the New York Post.
“Read my opinion again — or for the first time, perhaps,” Engoron replied to Trump.
On Thursday morning Trump posted on Truth Social:
“The New York State Judicial System is under attack because of the way the bogus A.G. “case” has played out. It’s a giant SCAM, with no “smoking gun,” No Victim (except me!), and absolutely no crime. Their only witness, already convicted felon Michael Cohen, crumbled like nothing I have ever seen before. He ADMITTED HE LIED, AND THEN ADMITTED THAT I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, TOLD HIM TO INFLATE THE NUMBERS!!! Everybody thinks that this political Witch Hunt should END TODAY. It is an embarrassment to New York…And Remember Mar-a-Lago!!!”
Trump also posted screenshots of a New York Post article that calls the trial one of a Kangaroo Court:
The article reads in part:
The dictionary defines a kangaroo court in two ways.
The first is “a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted.”
The second is “a court characterized by irresponsible, unauthorized, or irregular status or procedure.”
Both apply in spades to the Manhattan civil fraud trial of Donald John Trump.
If New York’s government were capable of being embarrassed, now would be the time.
The case itself is the scandal.
It’s a strange allegation of fraud where there is no victim.
So what’s the crime?
The charges are based on the assertion that Trump and his family inflated the value of their properties for insurance and loan purposes.
As one real estate lawyer told me, if that’s a crime, two-thirds of New York developers belong in jail.
Ah, but none of the others is named Trump, and so the show trial must go on.
It’s neither a secret nor an excuse that the former president revels in being obnoxious, and he is playing the part to perfection in the Lower Manhattan courtroom.
Scowling, outbursts, insults and name-calling are part of his everyday defense, before, during and after each session.
The outbursts sometimes continue through the night on social media.
These and other assaults on good sense have been part of Trump’s schtick since he first ran for president eight years ago, making it easy to see him as the boy who too often cries wolf.
Anti-Trump crusade
That’s a grave mistake, because this time there really is a wolf.
The case is that bad.
It stinks to high heaven and is more persecution than prosecution.
Trump’s crime is being a rich, loud-mouth Republican who won the White House over Hillary Clinton.
That was unbearable for many blue-state leftists, among them New York Attorney General Letitia James.
She repeatedly called him an “illegitimate president” and, according to Fox News, once told him, “I’m going to give you the same level of respect that you gave to President Obama, and that is absolutely no respect at all.”
Revenge, anyone?
She reportedly led a chant of “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go!” and participated in a chant of “Lock him up!”
After winning her election, she vowed that “We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well.”
It is to her everlasting shame that she kept the promise, including the part about his family by dragging three of his children into the circus.
In addition, her unrestrained gall is part of the extreme anti-business climate driving the city and state into the ditch.
Bringing the case after her public attacks and threats represents a clear abuse of office that state courts should have blocked.
It’s an abuse she reinforces with her unusual and unprofessional appearances in the courtroom and her mini press conferences at the end of the day.
On Monday, she told reporters Trump’s testimony was full of “distractions” and “insults” and added that the “documentary evidence” shows he “falsely inflated his assets to basically enrich himself and his family.”
James initiated legal action against President Trump, alleging that he conspired with his business associates to exaggerate the value of real estate holdings with the intention of obtaining advantageous lending terms from financial institutions. The attorneys for the president have vehemently opposed the judge’s revised valuation of Mar-a-Lago at $18 million, arguing that it is an absurd amount in comparison to the prices of adjacent properties that are only a fraction of the property’s dimensions.
President Trump directed his public statements concerning the case toward Attorney James, labeling him a “racist” and a “very unfair” judge who loses his temper in court, in reference to Judge Engoron. Courtroom cameras captured Engoron mocking President Trump with repeated smiles. Judge Engoron has consistently uploaded shirtless photos to his high school alumni association, which have been discovered online by the president’s supporters.