Trump faces the judge during the hearing and the judge tells the lawyer: “Control your client” | world

Donald Trump faced a judge at a hearing he attended in New York, on Thursday (11). The former US President spoke during the closing pleading session of the case in which he is accused of inflating the value of his real estate assets (Read more below).

Judge Arthur Engoron was speaking to the defense when the defendant interrupted him.

“We have a situation where I am an innocent man,” Trump said. “I'm being stalked by someone running for public office.”

According to Trump, the accusation is a strategy on the part of Letitia James, the New York Attorney General who filed the lawsuit, to gain public sympathy. The former president also claims that the judge is against him.

“This is a fraud against me. What happened here, sir, is a fraud against me,” Trump said. “I know it [o processo] It's boring for you,” he said to Engoron.

In response, the judge spoke to the defendant's lawyer: “Control your client.”

Trump's defense even asked the former president himself to make closing arguments in the case, but the request was rejected after the lawyers missed the deadline to reach an agreement on the basic rules of speech.

The conditions imposed by Engoron were intended to ensure that the former president would not use his recent comments to “make a campaign speech” or attack the authorities involved in the case.

Engoron has been the target of criticism and virtual attacks from Trump himself and his supporters. On Wednesday (10), the former president accused the judge of cooperating with the New York Attorney General to harm him, via social media.

This is not the first time Trump has clashed with Engoron. The former president previously described the judge as “unbalanced” and “a Democratic agent of the radical left who hates Trump.”

“I'm sure the judge will rule against me because he always rules against me,” the former president said.

Engoron warned Trump that he might remove him from the witness stand if he did not answer questions directly.

Addressing Trump's lawyer Christopher Case, Engoron said: “Mr. Case, can you control your client? This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom.”

At another point during the process, the judge imposed two fines on Trump, US$5,000 and US$10,000 (R$24,500 and R$49,000 at the current exchange rate), after ruling that the businessman had violated a gag order imposed after attacking the judge's clerk on social media.

This is one of four cases in which Trump, a Republican favorite in the 2024 presidential election, is currently charged in the United States.

The lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Trump and his family's companies of manipulating the values ​​of real estate assets to deceive creditors and insurance companies and tarnish Trump's reputation as a successful businessman.

The trial gained greater importance at the end of last September, when Judge Arthur Engoron, presiding over the session, ruled that “continuous fraud” had been proven.

According to Engoron, the New York State Attorney General's Office has already proven that Donald Trump and his group's managers “overstated the value” of their assets by between US$812 million and US$2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021 (about R$2.1 billion and R$12.2 billion Brazilian). .

Since the process is civil rather than criminal, Trump cannot be arrested, but his conviction could have significant financial implications. The former president could be banned from doing business in the city, and the trial puts the real estate empire Trump built in New York at risk.

Earlier, a judge ordered the New York state business licenses of Donald Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., executive vice presidents of the Trump Organization, to be revoked. He also ordered the confiscation of the companies targeted in the operation, which will be entrusted to the liquidators.

Donald Trump, who made his fortune in real estate and casinos in the 1980s and promised to run the United States like his companies, will next lose control of several of his group's symbolic buildings, such as Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Real estate is the focus of accusations by Attorney General Letitia James: the area of ​​​​the businessman's apartment in Trump Tower has tripled, and the value of the building located at No. 40 Wall Street has been overstated by between 200 and 300 million US dollars (about 1 billion Brazilian reais and 1.5 billion reais). Brazilian). one billion).

The file also shows the Trump Organization's luxury residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, and several golf courses.