NEW YORK, Jan. 12, (Xinhua/GNA) – The civil business fraud trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump Organization, concluded on Thursday, following a bomb threat to the judge who presides over the trial.
Police in Nassau County, responded to a bomb threat to the home of Manhattan Supreme Court Judge, Arthur Engoron, on Long Island on Thursday morning. On the heels of swatting calls targeting the homes of Department of Justice Special Counsel, Jack Smith, and judge Tanya Chutkan, who presides over a criminal case against Trump, the latest incident didn’t interrupt the trial proceeding on Thursday.
Trump was allowed to speak in a courtroom for about five minutes, before the conclusion of closing arguments from his side at 1:00 p.m. though the judge blocked Trump from making his own closing argument on Wednesday.
Calling himself “an innocent man,” Trump said the trial was a political witch hunt, and he should be compensated for reputation damage, rather than to be fined.
Trump also said Engoron had his own agenda, and accused New York Attorney General, Letitia James, of hating him, and using him to get elected.
Kevin Wallace, a senior enforcement counsel from the New York Attorney General’s Office, said the defendants, have not been able to dispute any of the facts, that Trump submitted false financial statements. Trump’s statements of financial condition were false every year, from 2011 to 2021, with discrepancies as much as 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, according to Wallace.
New York State prosecutors are seeking nearly 370 million U.S. dollars of penalty in the case, and a lifetime ban on Trump from the real-estate industry in New York State.
The trial began on Oct. 2, 2023, and the judge is expected to issue his verdict in the case in the coming weeks.
GNA