Month: January 2024

On Thursday in the New York civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump, Judge Arthur Engoron allowed Trump to speak at closing arguments, despite having denied a request from Trump to speak a day earlier. After Trump’s defense gave their closing argument in the morning, the former president left the courtroom and held a press conference at the Trump Building in New York. The prosecution delivered its closing arguments Thursday afternoon.

Trump was allowed to address the court, and Engoron directed Trump to promise that he would limit his comments to the facts of the case, to which Trump replied the case “goes outside just the facts.” Trump, who spoke for about five minutes, again accused Attorney General Laetitia James of being politically motivated in bringing the case against him and the Trump Organization, calling his financial statements “perfect” and saying the case is a “political witch hunt,” and shared his criticism of Judge Engoron but said the judge’s decision “may surprise some people. We’ll see what happens.” Trump’s attorney Chris Kise later delivered closing arguments for about two hours. ”

After he left the courtroom, Trump told reporters the case is a “political witch hunt the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. They owe me damages for what they’ve done. We’re a very innocent company. What we’ve run is a great company. That’s been proven. A very highly successful company.” 

In the courtroom, Trump’s attorneys added that James attempted to “intimidate” Trump and other executives in his organization, and Kise told Engoron that his decision could have an impact on other large corporations in New York. Trump and the Trump Organization, headed by his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., face a potential $250 million penalty for committing fraud. They were found guilty in the fall of inflating the value of their real estate properties.

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Before District Judge Mark Scarsi in the Central District of California on Thursday, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to nine federal tax charges. Federal prosecutors charged Hunter Biden in December with nine counts of tax crimes, including three felony and six misdemeanor charges related to his alleged failure to file and pay taxes, evasion of assessment and filing a false or fraudulent tax return. If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in prison.

In the 56-page indictment, prosecutors alleged Hunter Biden earned more than $7 million in gross income when he failed to pay taxes. They said he funded an “extravagant lifestyle” and evaded taxes by classifying some personal expenditures as business deductions. His indictments came after a plea agreement on two misdemeanor tax charges and a diversion agreement stemming from the firearms charge unraveled in court in July 2023 when the judge questioned whether the agreement would allow Hunter Biden to avoid potential future charges, as well as the charges related to his taxes.

The tax charges filed in California were brought by special counsel David Weiss in the second federal indictment of the president’s son secured by his office. Weiss, who was appointed U.S. attorney for Delaware by former President Donald Trump and named special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2023, charged Hunter Biden with three felony gun charges in the state of Delaware, related to his alleged unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty to the gun charges in October.

The hearing is still underway where the conditions of his release and the timing for the case and timing for pre-trial motions will likely be determined.

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The judge overseeing the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump said that Trump will not be allowed to deliver his own closing argument on Thursday. Judge Arthur Engoron told Trump’s attorneys that the former president must submit to certain restrictions if he wished to address the court, which Trump’s team did not agree to. The judge said that Trump would have to limit his statement in court to “what is permissible in a counsel’s closing argument, that is, commentary on the relevant, material facts that are in evidence, and application of the relevant law to those facts.”

The judge released an email chain between himself, Trump attorneys Chris Kise and state Attorney Letitia James’ office when he denied the request Wednesday.

Kise first told Engoron that Trump planned to speak in a Jan. 4 email, and Andrew Amer from the AG’s office quickly opposed the idea, saying “Allowing Mr. Trump to participate in closing arguments would effectively grant him an opportunity to testify without being subject to cross-examination.”  Engoron replied the next day, saying he was ‘inclined” to let Trump do so since he was the person with “by far the most at stake,” but added that Trump had to speak about the evidence in the case and could not “testify,” “comment on irrelevant matters,” “deliver a campaign speech” or “impugn myself, my staff, plaintiff, plaintiff’s staff or the New York State Court System.” The judge wrote that ‘”failure to abide by those conditions would result in Trump being cut off and admonished, and if he were to continue to violate those terms, he’d be removed from the courtroom by court officers and fined not less than $50,000″.

Kise responded on Tuesday that Trump could not agree to those conditions, at which point the judge noted that Trump would be free to comment “on the arguments of an opposing party or counsel, but may not seek to impugn their character.” “I will not let anyone violate the normal rules of courtroom procedure that govern closing arguments,” giving Kise until 4 p.m. Tuesday to respond. Later that night, Kise asked if closings could be delayed until late January due to the death of Melania Trump’s mother, at which time Engoron responded Wednesday morning he was “sorry to hear the sad news” but denied the request for a delay.

Kise later responded that Trump was still coming to court and planned to speak, calling the Judge’s conditions “very unfair … You are not allowing President Trump, who has been wrongfully demeaned and belittled by an out of control, politically motivated Attorney General, to speak about things that must be spoken about.”

Engoron responded, “Take it or leave it. Now or never” and gave Kise 7 minutes to agree to his terms. Kise did not respond, at which point Engoron wrote Wednesday tthat Trump would not be allowed to speak: “Not having heard from you by the third extended deadline (noon today), I assume that Mr. Trump will not agree to the reasonable, lawful limits I have imposed as a precondition to giving a closing statement above and beyond those given by his attorneys, and that, therefore, he will not be speaking in court tomorrow.”

The civil fraud trial lasted more than two months, with testimony wrapping up in December.

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Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance Wednesday on Capitol Hill, attending a House committee hearing centered on whether to hold him in contempt. Hunter, along with attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris, appeared on Capitol Hill as the House Oversight Committee was weighing the resolution to hold him in contempt; however, he left shortly after the hearing began.

The House Judiciary Committee was also holding a hearing on whether Biden should be held in contempt for holding a press conference outside the Capitol on Dec. 13 instead of complying with a subpoena ordering him to testify privately as part of an impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden.

Biden’s appearance was met with outrage by Republicans, with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., stating that he “should be arrested right here, right now, and go straight to jail … You [Biden] are the epitome of white privilege, coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a Congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up in here.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-N.Y., sought a show of hands for the committee to vote on the spot to receive public testimony from Biden, but only Democrats participated. House Republicans said that Hunter Biden’s testimony is key to their impeachment investigation into his father for enriching himself during his years as vice president through his son’s alleged overseas influence peddling.

In a statement to reporters after leaving the hearing, Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell asserted that Hunter is “a private citizen” while accusing Republicans of attempting to “use him as a surrogate to attack his father .. The Republican chairs today, then, are commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions. The question here is, what are they afraid of?”

Editorial credit: Potashev Aleksandr / Shutterstock.com