XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, misc.legal, ny.politics
XPost: talk.politics.guns
On 17 Nov 2023, "Trump - Inmate Number P01135809"
<
patriot1@protonmail.com> posted some news:uj956l$31g9r$
2@dont-email.me:
Nancy Pelosi should be on trial, not Trump.
Attorneys for former President Donald Trump are demanding a mistrial be declared in his New York fraud case, claiming the judge and his clerk have subjected the defendants to "tangible and overwhelming" bias and unfair treatment.
The motion for a mistrial makes good on a promise Trump's attorneys made
to file it the day he testified in the case on Nov. 6. The announcement
capped off an intense day of examination in which Trump — who has
frequently criticized New York Judge Arthur Engoron and his clerk — even
lashed out at the judge on the witness stand, pointing at him and calling
him a "fraud."
In the filing, Trump's attorneys claim that "the Court has abrogated its constitutional responsibility to ensure each Defendant, including
President Trump, receives a fair trial free from even the appearance of impropriety and impartiality."
The trial began Oct. 2 and is expected to last through mid-December.
Trump, two of his sons and their company are accused of perpetrating a
decade of fraud and benefiting by at least $250 million, by submitting
inflated valuations of his properties and net worth to banks and insurers.
Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly accused the judge of favoring New
York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat. Engoron is also a
Democrat. He was appointed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the New York
Supreme Court, 1st Judicial District, in 2013, after previously serving as
a judge on New York City's civil court. He ran unopposed for the position
in 2015, and is serving a 14-year term.
"Indeed, left unchecked, the introduction of such demonstrable pro-
Attorney General and antiTrump/big real estate bias into a case of
worldwide interest involving the front-runner for the Presidency of the
United States impugns the integrity of the entire system," wrote the
attorneys for Trump, who is leading polls ahead of the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
The mistrial motion also accuses Engoron's law clerk, Allison Greenfield,
of bias and "co-judging" the case. Greenfield, who is also a Democrat, typically sits next to the judge. During pretrial hearings, she often questioned attorneys for the two sides herself. She and lawyers for Trump
have had many heated exchanges over the course of the case.
Trump and his campaign have twice violated a limited gag order put in
place Oct. 3, after Trump made a derogatory social media post about
Greenfield. He's paid $15,000 in fines related to the gag order
violations.
Engoron has said he relies on her for legal research, but the Trump team
has complained of being distracted by Greenfield passing "notes" to the
judge. On Nov. 2, defense attorney Christopher Kise said in court that he
had recently watched proceedings on a closed circuit television feed,
observing behavior he said added to his "perception of bias" when a member
of his team, Jesus Suarez, was questioning a witness.
"Every time Mr. Suarez was making a point and there was a dialog, there
would be notes passed to you," Kise said. "When the Attorney General was speaking, there would be no notes passed to you."
Kise's accusation provoked Engoron's ire that day. He pounded the bench
with his fist, narrating the action as he did it.
"That's — I'm going to pound the table —– confidential communications from
my principal law clerk. I have an absolute right to it and you don't have
any right to see it or question it," Engoron said.
Engoron later barred the attorneys from referring to the notes.
The motion cites the clerk's name eight times, including references to her social media accounts, and they refer to the "Principal Law Clerk" 44
times. Two photos of the judge and his clerk together on the bench taken
during this trial were also included in the filing.
"Once again, Donald Trump is trying to dismiss the truth and the facts,
but the numbers and evidence don't lie," a spokesperson for the Attorney General's office said in a statement. "He can keep trying to distract from
his fraud, but the truth always comes out."
The mistrial motion comes amid the defense's first week calling its own witnesses in the case, including Donald Trump Jr., who has twice
testified. Their defense presentation began after more than five weeks of testimony in the state's case.
Judge Engoron has previously indicated he would deny the request for
mistrial, initially urging counsel not to file the request.
Meanwhile, the seventh week of the civil trial is continuing in Manhattan.
On Wednesday morning, the judge only acknowledged the mistrial request
briefly, asking the government if it planned to respond. That decision,
New York prosecutors said, would come by Thursday. If they respond, they
will do so with a proposed schedule order that would suggest how long the
judge might take to rule on this.
In court Wednesday, the Trump legal team continued with its direct line of questioning of expert witness Jason Flemmons. The forensic accountant and former deputy chief accountant at the SEC was asked a series of questions related to Trump's financial statements and its supporting data used by
the outside accounting firm Mazars, and whether its methods were
consistent with accounting standards.
Flemmons testified there were "quite a few" disclosures made in Trump's financial statements related to departures from generally accepted
accounting principles. The testimony bolstered the Trumps' defense that
they were transparent in compiling the documents, didn't hide departures
from accounting standards, and properly advised banks and insurers to
perform their own due diligence.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/trump-seeks-mistrial-new-york-fraud- case-claims-judge-biased/?intcid=CNR-02-0623
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