Attorneys for former President Donald Trump asked a judge to delay the multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James has brought against him and his sons, which is set to go to trial Oct. 2.
“A trial of this magnitude should not begin in chaos,” they wrote in a filing Tuesday evening. “The court and the defendants are entitled to know the claims and issues to be tried sufficiently in advance to prepare adequately for trial.”
They requested the trial be delayed “briefly,” and start three weeks later near the end of October, after the judge had ruled on arguments on requests for a summary judgment.
Ms. James had recently filed a motion arguing no trial was necessary for the judge to rule on one of seven claims that President Trump inflated the value of several properties. She claimed that Mr. Trump had inflated his net worth by $812 million to $2.2 billion annually since 2011, defrauding banks and insurers.
Ms. James is seeking $250 million in damages, and aims to bar Mr. Trump from doing business in New York state. President Trump has publicly refuted the claims made by Ms. James, accusing her of defamation.
President Trump’s team sought to dismiss the case entirely, arguing that the deals Ms. James cites in her lawsuit took place too long ago for her to bring to court now. As evidence, they also released the transcript of a seven-hour long deposition of President Trump, which took place in April, where he answered questions regarding the value of several of his properties, and his role in the business.
Ms James responded in a Tuesday evening filing by asking the judge to sanction the defendants and lawyers $20,000 for repeating arguments that the judge had already rejected. The Trump attorneys responded by asking that the “frivolous” motion for sanctions be withdrawn.
Countersuit, Delay Requests
Both countersuit and previous delay requests from President Trump’s side have failed.Ms. James first brought the case against President Trump in September 2022, and in November he sought to move it to federal court, and later to also pause the case.
“The investigations commenced by James are in no way connected to legitimate law enforcement goals, but rather are merely a thinly veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates. Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent,” President Trump’s attorneys argued.
The motions were denied. In January, Mr. Trump dropped the case. The same day, the former president and his attorney had been sanctioned by Judge John Middlebrooks, an appointee for President Bill Clinton, for $900,000 over what he called a “frivolous” lawsuit against Hilary Clinton and others over “Russiagate” claims.
Judge Middlebrooks wrote that President Trump showed a “continuing pattern of misuse of the courts” for bringing lawsuits against those involved in the “Russiagate” accusations. The judge had warned that the lawsuit against Ms. James was “vexatious and frivolous.”
In March, a request to delay the case was rejected. Lawyers wrote that the case’s complexity and “staggering volume” of evidence required more preparation time, and argued that their client had “an impossible schedule forced upon them.”
Judge Arthur Engoron wrote that there was no need to delay a “seemingly simple case.”
“This case is complex, but it is not complicated,” he said.
President Trump’s legal teams have also been seeking delays in several other cases, often aiming for trials to take place after the 2024 elections, as he faces four criminal trials and several other civil cases. They’ve so far seen little success.
In Georgia, the Fulton County district attorney is pushing to try President Trump in October, though his attorneys are arguing against the proposal, and have filed to sever his case from some of the other 18 co-defendants who have demanded speedy trial. The criminal case in state court alleges the 19 defendants engaged in a conspiracy and broke the state’s racketeering laws with their efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.
On Jan. 15, 2024, the same day Iowa kicks off the GOP caucus, President Trump is set to go to trial in a civil defamation case, also in New York. A judge recently ruled for writer E. Jean Carrol before the trial, saying the trial will only deal with how much she is owed in damages.
In March, President Trump faces two cases. In Washington, D.C., he faces a similar case to the Georgia one in federal court, set to begin March 4, one day before 16 states hold their Republican primaries. In New York, he has another state criminal case accusing him of mishandling business financial records.
In May, President Trump will go to trial in federal court over allegedly mishandling classified documents.
President Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, has been vocal about decrying the legal action against him as “election interference” as he continues to campaign. Despite the indictments, his approval ratings have only risen since the first on in April.
