Trump battled a fraud lawsuit in New York that could determine his future as a businessman with a torrent of insults and taunts… and no coherent legal strategy.

Former President Donald Trump wrapped up his massive civil fraud case with a trademark personal touch: An attack on the judge, right in the courtroom.

“You have your own agenda,” Trump told Judge Arthur Engoron Thursday. “You can’t listen for more than one minute.”

And with that, the trial was over. Now, it’s the judge’s turn.

The man Trump just spent months taunting and insulting will now deliver a judgement within weeks that could wallop Trump’s business empire, with hundreds of millions in fines, a possible lifetime ban on doing business in New York, and possibly other penalties. This case could force Trump to hand over flagship New York properties, including even his Trump Tower headquarters in Manhattan. Trump, who spent a lifetime buffing his preferred self-image as the ultimate brash New York real estate tycoon, may shortly be banned from working in the Big Apple ever again.

With so much at stake, Trump’s decision to repeatedly insult the man with so much power over his fate was an unorthodox choice, to say the least.

  • mateomaui@reddthat.com
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    6 months ago

    “It’s not common,” Tristan Snell, a former assistant attorney general for New York State, told the Lawfare podcast after Trump’s impromptu courtroom remarks on Thursday. “That’s the kind of thing that someone would do if they were a criminal defendant with mental health problems.”

    Checks out.

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Judge Engoron is going to drop an incredibly well researched and factually sound order. Trump underestimated this guy. He thought he could provoke him into making bad decisions, but channeling that anger into professionalism will end up crafting a ruling the appellate courts can’t touch.

    It’s not like they have a lack of evidence. There’s a mountain of evidence they committed the offense and how egregious their conduct was. They ran their business like gangsters.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Evidence isn’t even necessary now. They’ve already been found liable. This is the damages phase. That’s why Trump is being especially stupid even for Trump. He waited until after the judge’s decision to start attacking him.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          If this isn’t just plain old dementia, all I can think is he believes it somehow benefits his campaign, but nothing can stop the judge’s decision and this is a state court matter, not a federal one, so even if he is elected president, his business empire could be pretty damn well fucked. And he’s fucking it more. It’s just bizarre.

          • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            He definitely thinks it helps his campaign to be “fighting back” in court. And if he becomes president again he’ll be an 82 year old multimillionaire-or-better by the end of the term if he even survives it. He doesn’t need the business empire anymore, he needs the political power to be sure he avoids going to jail.

            • mateomaui@reddthat.com
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              6 months ago

              he doesn’t need the business empire anymore

              Well… he still has a mountain of debt, that he was probably hoping to offset by being president in the first place, and it’s possible that we don’t even know about some of it that worries him the most. So losing the business empire could deeply hurt him in being able to pay that off, even with all the donations rolling in.

  • Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org
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    6 months ago

    I heard (maybe on npr) that his lawyers maybe let him speak to see if the judge would stop him quickly and then they would have a reason to appeal.

    It backfired.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Well, at least he’s got the whole dictatorship thing to fall back on, just in case the real estate side-gig doesn’t work out for him.

  • BaddDadd@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    “The man Trump just spent months taunting and insulting will now deliver a judgement within weeks that could wallop Trump’s business empire, with hundreds of millions in fines […]”. “With so much at stake, Trump’s decision to repeatedly insult the man with so much power over his fate was an unorthodox choice, to say the least.”

    Sure, but the judge has more class than Trump can even conceive, and will be certain to not let the insults sway his decision, possibly swinging into Trump’s favor. Not by much, but some rather than none. Plus he’ll complain about the “mistreatment” anyway.

  • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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    6 months ago

    huh?

    hes already been found waaay guilty. its just all about how hard he is going to be spanked. and since weve all been forced to sit and watch the judge make no appreciable appealable moves, hes going to be spanked hard.

    • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Different case. I thought so too. No he’s in even more shit and gonna lose even more.

      • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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        6 months ago

        In a pretrial ruling, Judge Engoron found Trump liable for fraud. The trial has therefore been primarily about what kind of penalty Trump, his company and his executives should face. -From the article

        Isn’t it this one?

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Yes men have been blowing smoke up his ass for so long he’s well-cured by now.

  • Zozano@lemy.lol
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    6 months ago

    So Trump didn’t get a trial by jury, cool.

    But… How could he? Is there a single American who doesn’t have biases about Trump? Let alone TWELVE.