Donald Trump will not give his own closing argument in his New York civil business fraud trial after his lawyers objected to the judge's insistence that the former president stick to “relevant” issues.
Judge Arthur Engoron revoked the permit Wednesday, a day before closing arguments in the trial.
The case could result in Trump being fined hundreds of millions of dollars and stripped of his ability to do business in New York. His lawyers indicated Thursday that in addition to hearing arguments from his defense team, he plans to take the unusual step of submitting a personal summary.
Mr. Trump is a defendant in a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She claims his net worth was inflated by billions of dollars on financial statements to secure business loans and insurance.
The former president and current Republican 2024 front-runner has denied any wrongdoing and slammed the incident as a “hoax” and a political attack against him. James and his judges are Democrats.
It is extremely unusual for someone who has hired a lawyer to make the closing argument themselves. In email exchanges over the past few days and submitted to the court on Wednesday, Engoron said he initially approved the unusual request “including allowing everyone to speak.”
But he said Trump's comments would need to be limited to covering the lawyers' closing arguments, which would be “an explanation of the important relevant facts in the evidence and the application of relevant law to those facts.” Ta.
They may not introduce new evidence, “comment on unrelated matters,” or “make campaign speeches,” or criticize judges, their staff, the attorney general, lawyers, or the court system. wrote the judge.
Mr. Trump's lawyer, Christo Kise, countered that the restrictions were unreasonable and that Mr. Trump could not agree to them.
