Former US President Donald Trump once again turned a courtroom into a campaign stage with an angry speech. At his trial in New York on allegations of financial fraud, Trump vehemently attacked prosecutors today, accusing them of trying to prevent him from returning to the White House. “They want to make sure I never win again,” he said, referring to the November presidential election.
With his speech, the right-wing populist ignored judge Arthur Engoron's warnings not to make a campaign speech. When the judge tried to interrupt Trump, he responded: “You have your own agenda, you can’t listen for more than a minute.” Engoron then asked Trump's lawyer to “control his client.”
Portal/Shannon Stapleton
Attack on the Attorney General
Closing arguments began in the civil trial. Trump wanted to make the appeal himself, but Engoron refused to do so – after the former president refused to accept the judge's restrictions on the content of his own appeal. With his decision, Engoron wanted to prevent Trump from giving a “campaign speech” in court. But that's exactly what happened after the judge allowed the defendant to add some comments of his own to his lawyer's plea.
Trump then immediately launched a furious attack on New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who was sitting behind him in the room. He accused her of “hating him” and wanting to prevent his electoral success. He described himself as an “innocent man” who was unfairly persecuted. Chief investigator James belongs to President Joe Biden's Democratic Party.
In the New York civil case, Trump and his sons Donald Junior and Eric are accused of artificially inflating the assets of the family real estate empire over the years in order to obtain better loan and insurance terms. Trump and his children face a large fine in the case, but no prison time.