Former President Donald Trump offered controversial testimony on Nov. 6, prompting observers to suggest he had brought his 2024 presidential campaign to the courtroom.
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron told President Trump’s attorney, Chris Kise, to “control your client” and get the campaign rhetoric out of the courtroom because the testimony was “not a political rally.”
The contentious hearing saw Judge Engoron reportedly raise his voice and tell Alina Habba, another of Mr. Trump’s attorneys, to “sit down!” According to NBC News, Mr. Trump remarked: “This is a very unfair trial. I hope the public is watching.”
Legal Implications of Trump’s Testimony
It remains to be seen how President Trump’s testimony in New York and elsewhere will impact his legal prospects, which, in turn, could create logistical hurdles for his campaign if, for example, he is imprisoned.The New York case, however, is a civil trial ,and Judge Engoron has already said the president is liable for fraud. His statements in this case and others, however, could theoretically influence how juries view him, the quality of his legal defense, and the severity of his would-be punishments.
In Judge Engoron’s court, President Trump is facing a state prosecution accusing him of inflating the value of his properties. During his testimony, President Trump argued that his assets were actually worth more than they were valued and blamed banks for not doing their own due diligence.
University of Michigan Law School Professor Barbara McQuade told The Epoch Times that “Trump did not help himself in the trial with his testimony, but it seems that his strategy was to double down on his views that his assets were not over-valued. In fact, he argued some were even under-valued because appraisers failed to consider the value of his brand name.”
“I doubt the judge was impressed with his performance. As Attorney General James said, this case is about documents, which speak for themselves. Trump did nothing to mitigate the concerns that the Trump Organization made wildly escalated valuations of properties. He seemed to concede as much when he testified that the banks should have done their own due diligence before accepting the Trump estimates at face value. A failure by the victim to identify an overstated asset is no defense for Trump.”
Ms. McQuade stepped down as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan in 2017 as President Trump’s attorney general at the time requested dozens of departures from government lawyers.
Hans Von Spakovsky, a former member of the Federal Election Commission, said in a statement to The Epoch Times that President Trump’s testimony was irrelevant because he was dealing with a “very biased judge.”
“I think Trump’s testimony is irrelevant to this very biased judge,“ Von Spakovsky said. ”He decided Trump was guilty before the trial started and has displayed his antagonism toward Trump not only throughout the trial but before there was even a case. This partisan judge’s behavior, including imposing an unconstitutional gag order on Trump that violates his First Amendment right to defend himself, shows that the judge made up his mind that he was going to help the state attorney general get Trump—regardless of the facts or the law in the case.”
Andy McCarthy, a conservative author and attorney, similarly told Fox News Digital, “The judge is going to do what he’s going to do regardless of Trump’s testimony.”
Mr. McCarthy said: “The judge told Trump before the trial even started that he had already lost the case and all the trial was going to be about was how much he was going to have to pay ($250M or more) in addition to being put out of business in [New York].”
Mr. McCarthy noted how “the judge and state’s attorney general are elected Democrats” and how Ms. James “ran vowing to use the power of her office against Trump.”
Ms. James, who encountered attacks from Mr. Trump during his testimony, responded on X, formerly known as Twitter, by saying that President Trump resorted to bullying.
“As expected, Donald Trump resorted to bullying and name-calling to distract from the truth today,” she said.
“But the truth always comes out: Donald Trump has falsely inflated his net worth and fraudulently enriched himself and his family.”
Political Fallout
While Mr. Trump is facing a series of legal challenges in court, it’s clear he intends to flip the script and use them to boost his political prospects.Commenting on the testimony, George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News Digital that “there are two cases being made in that courtroom. James is making the case to bar Trump from business in New York while Trump is making the case for reelection.”
President Trump’s no-holds-barred approach could prove problematic in court, but it doesn’t appear to be hurting him in the polls. For that matter, neither do the multiple indictments he’s facing. If anything, his ongoing court cases may have helped him increase his lead in polling.
“Despite the indictments and his legal issues, despite what some consider vitriolic language to the point where judges have threatened him, his numbers have not gone down,” Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac University polling analyst, told The Epoch Times. “His numbers have actually gone up.”
Judges could impose more severe sanctions in the short term, but it’s questionable whether their negative effect in the courtroom will spill over to the political arena.
“People aren’t concerned about what’s going on with Trump and his trials,” Republican Main Street Partnership CEO Sarah Chamberlain said, referencing her organization’s polling. She added that for President Trump’s indictments, “his base doesn’t care.”
Ms. Chamberlain told The Epoch Times that President Trump is “overwhelmingly still very popular, and it doesn’t seem like these trials or the indictments affect him at all with his base.”
Polling has shown that even amid his indictments, President Trump was able to increase his lead over GOP contender and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“DeSantis is clearly going down in the polls while Trump is going up,” Ms. Chamberlan said. “DeSantis tried to out-Trump Trump, and it’s very difficult to do that.”
The general election may be a different story as President Trump needs to convince a broader and more politically diverse electorate if he wants to beat President Joe Biden.
“His base loves the outburst and ... his dropping bombs, and all of that,” Ms. Chamberlain said. “I think when it comes to the general election, suburban people will not care for that,” she added while noting that suburban voters opposed President Trump in 2020.
Ms. Chamberlain said that suburban voters are “not really happy” with President Trump’s behavior. “They voted him out of office a few years ago. The behavior has not changed, though the issue is they don’t want any president who is maybe senile,” she added, referring to voter perceptions of President Biden.
Polling from Rasmussen, CBS News and the Trafalgar Group each show President Trump continuing to dominate the Republican field. For example, CBS News said on Nov. 6 that his support among likely GOP voters was more than triple that of Gov. DeSantis, the next leading contender.
Another aspect of the poll asked primary voters about their reactions to the indictments against President Trump. While 54% said they didn’t matter, only 12% said the indictments made them think worse of him compared to 34% who said the indictments made them think better of him.
