On Tuesday, Donald Trump returned to his New York civil fraud trial and complained about a partial gag order issued on him by a judge in a separate case.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer-turned-foe, was slated to testify at the trial on Tuesday but had to cancel due to what he claimed was a medical condition.
As he approached the Manhattan courtroom, Trump, 77, addressed reporters, criticizing New York Attorney General Letitia James, who launched the civil fraud case against him, the judge presiding over the trial, and President Joe Biden.
“This is a witch hunt by a radical lunatic attorney general,” Trump said. “And it’s very unfair.
“This is a rigged trial,” he added, with a “Democrat judge” who is “very liberal.”
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in 2024, also erroneously claimed that the federal judge who will preside over his trial in Washington for conspiring to upset the 2020 US election had taken away his “right to speak.”
“My speech has been taken away from me,” he said. “I’m a candidate that’s running for office and I’m not allowed to speak.
“This is a railroading that’s all coming out of the Department of Justice,” the former Republican president said. “It’s all set up by Biden and his thugs that he’s surrounded with to try and sneak out an election victory that he’s not entitled to win.”
On Monday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that Trump’s “right to speak” was not violated. Instead, she ordered him not to openly criticize prosecutors, court personnel, or possible witnesses in the run-up to the trial, which is set to begin in Washington in March 2024.
Chutkan’s decision came after special counsel Jack Smith, a regular target of Trump’s venom, submitted a request saying that the real estate tycoon’s aggressive rhetoric threatened to jeopardize his election-subversion trial.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is in charge of the civil fraud trial, imposed a limited gag order on the former president earlier this month after he insulted a court staffer in a social media post.
Engoron forbade “all parties from posting, emailing or speaking publicly” about his court staff.
$250 Million Penalty
Trump is not obligated to attend the trial in New York, but he did attend for the first three days and has exploited his visits to depict himself as the victim of a Democratic plan to interfere with his presidential campaign.
New York’s attorney general has charged Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr., and other Trump Organization employees with massively misrepresenting the worth of their real estate holdings in order to obtain more favorable bank loans and insurance terms.
Trump does not face jail time in this trial, but James, a Democrat, is seeking $250 million in penalties and the removal of the former president and his sons from family business management.
Engoron ruled before Trump’s New York trial began that Trump, his sons, and other Trump Organization executives lied to tax collectors, bankers, and insurers for years in a conspiracy that overstated the value of their buildings by $812 million to $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.
He ordered measures to seize and liquidate Trump enterprises, potentially crippling Trump’s real estate empire, but their implementation was halted on appeal.
The federal election conspiracy trial is scheduled to begin on March 4 in Washington, the day before one of the most important days on the Republican primary calendar, so-called “Super Tuesday,” when around 15 states hold their nominating votes.
Trump is also facing federal charges for alleged mismanagement of confidential data after leaving the White House, and he has been charged with racketeering in Georgia for attempting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.