Trump Lawyers to Mount Counterattack After Weeks of Bruising Cross-Examination in NY Civil Case

“Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom with attorneys Christopher Kise and Alina Habba during his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Nov. 6, 2023. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images)”

The media and public should brace themselves for the most heated phase of the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump when courtroom proceedings resume on Nov. 13—if past interactions among the defense, the judge, and government lawyers are any indication.

The defense will begin to make its case on behalf of the 45th president and 2024 candidate, as well as his two sons and daughter, who are no longer defendants in the case yet have faced relentless and acrimonious cross-examination on the witness stand over the past two weeks.

President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is expected to be the first to testify for the defense.

Trump lawyer Christopher Kise and Judge Arthur Engoron feuded throughout the cross-examination of President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump. The defense attorney has objected constantly, saying that questions posed were irrelevant to the legal issues at hand or that no one could reasonably expect the people on the stand to recall the details of documents, records, meetings, and conversations from as far back as 2012.

As if to add further contentiousness to the proceedings, New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office on Nov. 8 sent a letter to Judge Engoron seeking to block testimony from four expert witnesses set to take the stand during the defense phase.

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Their testimony would address the accuracy of valuations contained in statements of financial condition submitted to Deutsche Bank and other firms for the purpose of securing favorable terms for loans and insurance. In the view of the attorney general’s office, such testimony is beside the point given that the judge has already ruled that Trump is guilty of fraud.

Nor has the pro-Trump side been inactive during the run-up to the next phase of the trial. On Nov. 10, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) sent a lengthy letter to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, spelling out a litany of complaints about how Judge Engoron has conducted himself and his alleged bias against the respondents in the lawsuit.

“This judge’s bizarre behavior has no place in our judicial system, where Judge Engoron is not honoring the defendant’s rights to due process and a fair trial. These serious concerns are exacerbated by the fact that the defendant is the leading candidate for President of the United States, and it appears the judicial system is being politicized to affect the outcome of the campaign,” Ms. Stefanik wrote.

She then cited the judge’s reference to the former president as “just a bad guy” deserving of prosecution by the attorney general, and his blunt statement to President Trump that “we are not here to listen to what you have to say.”

Judge Engoron also told President Trump’s attorney Mr. Kise, “I am not here to hear what he has to say, now sit down!” and said, when Mr. Kise floated the idea of requesting a directed verdict, “You better not, Chris.”

The letter also characterizes the judge and members of his staff as “partisan Democrat donors” who, in violation of the New York Code of Judicial Conduct, have given lavishly to the party opposing President Trump.

Ms. Stefanik’s letter concludes: “Judge Engoron’s lawlessness sends an ominous and illegal warning to New York business owners: If New York judges don’t like your politics, they will destroy your business, the livelihood of your employees, and you personally. This Commission cannot let this continue.”

A Defense Lawyer’s Concerns

Although Ms. Stefanik isn’t part of the Trump defense team in the current proceedings, her letter summarizes many of the objections that Mr. Kise has repeatedly raised over the past few weeks. Mr. Kise took exception to the frequent passing of notes between the judge and a law clerk, suggesting that the judge often made rulings favoring the plaintiffs upon reading the notes, the contents of which weren’t disclosed to the rest of the court.“The rulings are frequently if not inordinately against us on every issue,” Mr. Kise said. Later on in the proceedings, he said that he hoped that the defense would receive the same latitude that the judge has granted to the plaintiffs when the defense finally gets its turn, beginning on Nov. 13.

Mr. Kise is not someone I’ve heard of before. Seems like Ms. Habba is the one addressing the media and giving interviews.

…Regardless of whether the concerns of Mr. Kise and Ms. Stefanik have any basis, the proceedings that get underway in Manhattan civil court at 10 a.m. on Nov. 13 are likely to rise—or descend—to a level of acrimony with few parallels in any lawsuit involving a former U.S. head of state or current presidential aspirant.

I wish we could see it. 🍿

Very interesting…

Amazing proof of election issues with Dominion machines:

IMPORTANT: Undeniably Proof Out Of Georgia That Dominion Voting Is Rigging United States Elections. Confirmed With A Hand Count Of Ballots, This Is SHOCKING

“The result from the Dominion machine showed Lorne Alexander received 34.67% of the vote, Marshall Orson receiving 41.35% of the vote, and Michelle Longspears receiving 23.98% of the vote.The result from the Dominion machine showed Lorne Alexander received 34.67% of the vote, Marshall Orson receiving 41.35% of the vote, and Michelle Longspears receiving 23.98% of the vote.

In Georgia, if one candidate doesn’t get above 50% of the vote total, a runoff election is automatically held between the two top candidates. Meaning Michelle Longspierce was cut out of the race.

But Michelle Longspierce felt odd about the numbers, so she visited different precincts to double check the tallies. Guess what?

She noticed that in some precincts she didn’t receive a single vote. But how is that possible that a candidate with 24% of the vote total finds precincts where she didn’t receive a single vote?

While statistically alarming, the real surprise came when she realized there was not one vote cast for her in her own precinct, the same one where she and her husband voted for herself. Spears immediately demanded a hand recount of the results and got one.

On June 1st the results were released and the difference between the Dominion machine count and the hand count was shocking.

After the hand count Lauren Alexander gained 355 votes, Orson lost 1298 votes and Spears actually gained 3620 votes making her the new runoff candidate.

And here’s the best part, when you add them all up the hand count shows 2810 votes more than the Dominion machines reported on the 24th.

This is huge.

In a small county commissioners race with 15 and a half thousand votes total, the Dominion machine tally was short by nearly 3,000 votes. What does that say about all the other races that were conducted on these very same machines?

This is proof that the machines cannot be trusted. If Spears had not sounded the alarm, no one would have been able to do this.”

The video is only two minutes long and covers what is stated above.