New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron indicated to attorneys on Jan. 10 that former President Donald Trump likely won’t participate in closing arguments for his civil fraud trial.
President Trump’s lawyers, who have already appealed unsuccessfully for a directed verdict on the grounds of prosecutorial bias, will make their case on Jan. 11.
The email chain shows Justice Engoron telling Mr. Kise repeatedly that he needed to state whether the former president would abide by the limitations he sought to impose.
“As I have already indicated to you, if Mr. Trump wishes to speak ... you will have to tell me NOW that he will agree to the limitations I have imposed, which go without saying and apply to everyone, and he will have to agree to do so tomorrow, on the record,” Justice Engoron wrote in an earlier Jan. 10 email to Mr. Kise, the New York attorney general’s office, and other Trump attorneys.
Justice Engoron initially approved the unusual request, saying he was “including to let everyone have his or her say.”
But he said President Trump would have to limit his remarks to the boundaries that cover attorneys’ closing arguments: “commentary on the relevant, material facts that are in evidence, and application of the relevant law to those facts.”
He wouldn’t be allowed to introduce new evidence, “comment on irrelevant matters,” or “deliver a campaign speech”—or impugn the judge, his staff, the attorney general, her lawyers, or the court system, the judge wrote.
Mr. Kise responded that those limitations were “fraught with ambiguities, creating the substantial likelihood for misinterpretation or an unintended violation.”
At 11:40 a.m. ET, Mr. Kise told Justice Engoron that he was being “very unfair.”
“You are not allowing President Trump, who has been wrongfully demeaned and belittled by an out of control, politically motivated Attorney General, to speak about the things that must be spoken about,” he said.
Justice Engoron responded: “I won’t debate this yet again. Take it or leave it. Now or never. You have until noon, seven minutes from now. I WILL NOT GRANT ANY FURTHER EXTENSIONS.”
Justice Engoron had denied Mr. Kise’s request to postpone closing arguments after President Trump’s mother-in-law died.
In their closing arguments, President Trump’s legal team is expected to emphasize critical points from the direct examination of such witnesses as Rosemary Vrablic, a former Deutsche Bank managing director closely involved in efforts to grow business between the bank and the Trump Organization, and Eli Bartov, an expert on real estate accounting practices who spoke on the meaning of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as applied to loans and insurance.
Since the trial began on Oct. 2, 2023, attorneys for New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office have attempted to build a case that in preparing statements of financial condition (SFCs) to seek loans and insurance policies for Trump properties, members of the Trump Organization inflated the value of assets in a manner that involved conscious wrongdoing.
Throughout the government lawyers’ direct examination and cross-examination, they pulled up images on a courtroom screen of SFCs, emails, letters, contracts, and memoranda bearing the signatures of Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, Allen Weisselberg, Jeffrey McConney, and President Trump himself. The court heard witness after witness testify as to the content of conversations and email exchanges from as far back as 2012, and heard expert testimony about GAAP and whether the documents on the screen adhered to such norms and standards.
Ms. James, a Democrat, who had previously sought a $250 million settlement—almost one-tenth of President Trump’s estimated net worth of $2.6 billion—has announced that nothing less than $370 million will suffice as a penalty for inflated valuations of his assets.
Ms. James also seeks five-year bans on the former president’s sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. taking part in any real estate deals.
President Trump blames the attorney general for what he sees as a politically motivated prosecution of the Republican Party’s 2024 front-runner.
He has also argued that Ms. James is going after him without real legal ground as crime surges on New York’s streets and that her actions will drive businesses out of New York and deter others from operating in the city.
President Trump responded to the decision in the afternoon following Mr. Kise’s exchange with Justice Engoron.
“The Trump hating judge and attorney general are working closely together to ’screw me,' even though I have done nothing wrong,” he wrote in all-caps in a Truth Social post.
