For those who thought Trump’s $250 million New York civil fraud trial was nearing its conclusion after the ex-president delivered combative sworn testimony from the witness stand Monday – especially since the judge ruled in late September Trump was liable for fraud, and likely will have to dissolve his New York businesses – brace yourselves.
Legal experts are offering a preview of what comes next, and there will probably be a lot more, including more Trump on the witness stand.
On Wednesday, Ivanka Trump will testify after quickly losing her efforts to block a subpoena on the grounds testifying in court was inconvenient because her children go to school.
“The New York attorney general will rest their case on Wednesday after Ivanka’s testimony. The defense will then examine Ivanka themselves (to economize on her time and travel), and after making a number of motions, they project they will start their case in chief Monday & finish by 12/15,” reports MSNBC’s Lisa Rubin on X.
Trump attorney Chris Kise will begin to present the defense’s case on Monday, and the Trump family will return.
“Avid court watchers can therefore expect that some of the witnesses called already in the AG’s case — notably Eric, Don Jr. and Donald Trump himself — will appear again as witnesses in the defense’s case in chief,” Rubin notes at MSNBC.
But even after the trial comes to an end, it may not be over.
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“Team Trump is foreshadowing motions they will make at the conclusion of the AG’s case, such as a motion for a mistrial or directed verdict,” Rubin also reports. “The lawyers are hinting that it has something to do with the subject of the existing gag order and likely concerns the judge’s principal law clerk, but not, as Trump attorney Aline Habba noted, her notes with Engoron.”
Other legal experts say Trump’s lawyers may be planning an appeal.
Former U.S. Attorney and former senior FBI official Chuck Rosenberg suggested Trump’s witness stand outbursts that forced Judge Arthur Engoron at least twice to urge attorneys to “control” the ex-president, may be an effort to “goad” the judge into “some sort of mistake,” such as responding injudiciously, which might help Trump in case there is an appeal.
But Trump earlier this afternoon may have sunk any chance for a successful appeal.
Andrew Weissmann, the well-known former FBI General Counsel who spent decades at DOJ, in a rare all-caps post, says Trump admitted his financial statements were tools to help him get bank loans.
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“BREAKING,” Weissmann wrote on X. “AG GETS TRUMP TO AGREE THAT THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND TRUMP’S PERSONAL GUARANTY WERE TO INDUCE BANKS TO LEND MONEY. KEY FACT FOR THIS FRAUD CASE.”
Professor of law and MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance, also a former U.S. Attorney, says Trump’s remarks, admitting his financial statements were created to “induce lending,” is an “astonishing admission” and will hurt any chance Trump might have had on appeal.
“Not only is this an astonishing admission,” Vance writes, “it will damage efforts to argue on appeal that the judge was wrong to grant judgement ahead of trial on the fraud claims. That is pretty much Trump’s last gasp at saving his NY business.”
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