Aiexpress – Former President Donald Trump vehemently criticized the ruling in his civil fraud trial in New York. Without any evidence, he baselessly accused the judge of colluding with the state government to undermine his election campaign.
In a landmark decision, Judge Arthur Engoron declared on Friday that Mr. Trump, along with his family and his extensive real estate empire, is obligated to pay a staggering sum of nearly $464 million due to their involvement in fraudulent business activities.
In a series of posts on his social network Truth Social that afternoon, the former president criticized the decision as a “witch hunt” and labeled it as a form of “election interference”. He also referred to Mr. Engoron as “crooked”.
In a rather unconventional move, he delivered a lengthy and winding speech from the steps of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. During his address, he adamantly denied any instances of fraud and surprisingly took pride in the filing of what he claimed to be “one of the greatest financial statements” ever made.
According to him, he is being punished for his remarkable achievements in building a successful company with excellent financials, infrastructure, and overall performance. However, he fails to provide any substantiation for his allegations of widespread judicial corruption.
“This is Russia, this is China, this is the same game… it’s a witch hunt against [a] political opponent the likes of which our country has never seen before,” Mr Trump said. “You see it in third world countries, banana republics, but you don’t see it here.”
He pledged to challenge the “absurd” decision, which mandates him to reimburse slightly less than $355 million, along with $100 million in accrued interest.
“ELECTION INTERFERENCE. WITCH HUNT,” he said, calling the decision a case of “shocking and corrupt interference in the free market for political gain” and a “complete and total sham”.
According to the former president, there were no victims, damages, or complaints as a result of the financial fraud he conspired in for several years.
Instead, he stated that it provided satisfaction to banks and insurance companies – a point emphasized by Mr. Trump’s lawyers during the trial.
Throughout the trial, he continued his long-standing history of attacking Mr. Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James. His statements on Friday were consistent with this pattern, despite being rebuked by the judge.
After months of dedicated effort, Mr. Engoron carefully examined the testimony and evidence presented in the case, which had been filed by Ms. James’s office two years prior.
In the end, he concluded that the accusations against Mr. Trump’s company had been repeatedly proven. He noted that the defendants displayed a complete absence of remorse and contrition, which he described as bordering on pathological.
