How Trump turned his courtroom rant into shameless self-promotion: ex-federal prosecutor

07 November 2023

On Monday, November 6, former President Donald Trump took the stand in the trial for New York State Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud case against the Trump Organization. Trump was highly performative during his testimony, slamming James' lawsuit as a politically motivated "witch hunt" and annoying the judge who has been assigned to the case: Arthur Engoron.

Justice Engoron's frustration with both Trump and his legal team was obvious. Nonetheless, Engoron let Trump rant.

In a biting article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on November 7, University of Baltimore law professor Kimberly Wehle stresses that Trump's over-the-top testimony was followed by a fundraising pitch.

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Wehle, a former federal prosecutor, explains, "Donald Trump took the witness stand on Monday, stunning some with his admissions about his involvement in the false documentation of the value of his real estate properties — a bid to normalize illegality as merely what people do in the fast world of finance — but surprising no one with his vitriol, atmospherics and lies. Trump's testimony was immediately followed by an e-mail plea to supporters for money, on the ironic rationale that 'America has descended into utter tyranny' and that 'right before our very eyes, our once beautiful Republic is being transformed into a Marxist tin-pot dictatorship where Crooked Joe's regime has weaponized the legal system.'"

James, in her civil case against Trump, alleges that the former president and his Trump Organization seriously exaggerated the value of their real estate assets. And Engoron, in a September 26 ruling, agreed with her. The trial that's been taking place will determine what type of sanctions are imposed.

"For now," Wehle argues, "Trump's lies, and his depicting James' legitimate and formidable legal case against him as an authoritarian 'witch hunt,' will fall on deaf ears within the judicial system. Engoron has been unflinching in his refusal to cower, instead adhering to the bedrock foundations of our legal system and democracy itself: Facts. Law. Accountability. Let's hope he's right."

Kimberly Wehle's full Bulwark article is available at this link.

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