Trump’s Legal Team Has Fantastic Day in Court as It Battles ‘Draconian’ $454 Million Fraud Judgement Brought on by Letitia James
By Michael Schwarz September 27, 2024 at 8:23am
In the wake of two failed assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump, one could easily lose sight of the myriad ways in which other Trump-hating lunatics have tried to destroy the 45th president.
On Thursday, according to Fox News, a panel of New York appeals court judges sounded skeptical about the $454 million judgment rendered against Trump by New York Judge Arthur Engoron — a judgment the former president’s attorneys rightly characterized as “draconian, unlawful, and unconstitutional.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the lawsuit, accusing Trump and others of committing financial fraud by overvaluing assets.
Due to interest accumulating at $112,000 per day during the appeals process, Trump’s total fine now stands at $470 million.
During oral arguments Thursday, Judge Peter H. Moulton said that the “immense penalty in this case is troubling.”
In fact, according to Politico, Moulton appeared to question the validity of the entire lawsuit.
“I think you hear underneath all these questions, the question of mission creep,” Moulton said to Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale, who argued the case for James.
In other words, Moulton wondered aloud whether the statute James used to bring the lawsuit had “morphed into something that it was not meant to do?”
James argued that Trump had committed fraud by using overvalued assets to secure favorable terms from banks and insurance companies. The deranged and pliant Engoron agreed.
Do you think the $454 million judgement against Trump will be overturned?
Incredibly, however, the attorney general could find no actual victims of the former president’s alleged fraud.
Thus, Associate Justice Llinet Rosado noted that the transactions in question had “little to no impact on the public marketplace.”
Rosado made that comment on the heels of another skeptical observation from Associate Justice David Friedman.
Friedman asked Vale whether the attorney general’s office had ever used the consumer-protection statute in question “to upset a private business transaction that was between equally sophisticated partners.”
In other words, those banks and insurers did not fall off the proverbial turnip truck. They knew the value of Trump’s properties and relished his business.
Thursday on the social media platform X, prominent legal scholar Jonathan Turley shared more skepticism from Friedman.
“Because I’ve gone through the case that you’ve cited, and all of them always involved consumer protection aspect — it involved protection of the market. You don’t have anything like that here,” the judge said.
…Here is Justice David Friedman: “Because I’ve gone through the case that you’ve cited, and all of them always involved consumer protection aspect — it involved protection of the market. You don’t have anything like that here.”…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) September 26, 2024
Engoron issued his “draconian” ruling in February.
Since then, Democrat operatives have tried to imprison the former president in a separate and equally unjust New York case. And at least two lunatics have come close to murdering him.
Recently, we have heard that multiple assassination teams, foreign and domestic, have continued to hunt the former president.
Thus, while it is easy to lose sight of a civil fraud trial amid all the other madness occasioned by deranged Trump-haters, we nonetheless welcome these encouraging signs that appeals court judges in New York might actually see the James- and Engoron-led persecution of Trump for what it is.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
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