Former President Donald Trump reportedly plans to give his own closing argument at his civil business fraud trial in New York on Thursday, unnamed sources told the Associated Press.
One of Trump’s attorneys told Judge Arthur Engoron, whom Trump has criticized throughout the trial, that the former president wants to speak during the closing arguments, a source told the AP. It would be highly unusual if Trump goes through with the reported plan as defendants with attorneys rarely give a closing argument if they have lawyers to represent them.
Trump’s civil business fraud trial began after New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit against the former president and three of his children in September of 2022. The suit alleges that Trump, along with Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump, misled the value of his company’s assets in financial statements “over 200 times in 10 years.” Initially, James sought $250 million in fines for Trump, but according to a brief filed last week, James is now asking the judge to fine Trump more than $370 million.
Trump has held that James — who vowed to “get” the former president while she was running for attorney general — is targeting him for political reasons.
“There is no crime,” Trump said before he entered the New York City Supreme Court in Manhattan for the first day of his trial in October. “The crime is against me.”
Trump’s defense has argued that their client’s financial statements were unaudited estimates and were clearly offered as such, adding that the estimates of his net worth were too low, the opposite of what James is claiming.
“There have been no losses to any party, as the loans here were negotiated between very sophisticated parties,” Trump’s lawyers Christopher Kise and Michael T. Madaio wrote in court papers on Friday. “Lenders made their own informed decisions.”
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Trump called Judge Engeron, who is presiding over the trial, a “deranged, Trump-hating judge.” Engeron has donated thousands of dollars in political contributions to Democrats, according to campaign finance records. He has already rescinded some of Trump’s business licenses in New York, and the judge is expected to come to a verdict in the civil business fraud trial by the end of the month.
