After Judge Arthur Engoron rocked former President Donald Trump with a hard punch to the wallet on Friday, Trump came out counter-punching and declared “We have already won, and will continue the fight …. ”
On Friday, Engoron hit Trump with $355 million in fines in Trump’s civil trial, claiming Trump used false and inflated values for his properties on financial statements. Trump was also barred from serving as a director of a New York state-based company for the next three years, according to CNN. Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., who have played leading roles in the company since Trump was elected president, are barred from serving as corporate executives for the next two years. Trump has said he will appeal the decision.
Trump, who sparred often with Engoron during the trial, was defiance personified in comments to Fox News in which he said the verdicts were more political election interference from Democrats, vowing “they will not be successful.”
“This Election Interference and tyrannical Abuse of Power by a Crooked Judge and Crooked Attorney General cannot be tolerated,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“My case was already won in the Appellate Division, and more than 80% of the frivolous claims were wiped out. Yet, as I suspected, and in order to hurt me and the Republican Party politically, Crooked and Corrupt Judge Arthur Engoron ignored his loss at the Appellate Division, and came up with an outrageous $355 Million Dollar fine against me,” Trump wrote.
Trump noted that the law has never been weaponized until state Attorney General Letitia James used it to fulfill her campaign promise to go after him.
“Using a statute that has never been applied like this before, the Corrupt Judge conspired with the Crooked Attorney General, Letitia James, and punished a liquid and beautiful Corporate Empire that started in New York, and has been successful all around the world,” he wrote.
Trump noted that the deals he made hurt no one.
“There were no victims, and not one person testified there was any fraud. The actual witnesses established my Net Worth exceeded that reported in my Financial Statements as those Statements never included my most valuable Asset – the TRUMP Brand. The Highly Respected Expert Witness said my Financial Statements were among the best he has ever seen,” posted on Truth Social.
Was this a fair trial for Trump?
“I paid over $300 Million Dollars in taxes to New York City and State, and they want me gone. They are Crazed Lunatics who are destroying everything in their way. It all starts with Biden’s attacks on his Political Opponent!,” Trump wrote.
Trump said the ripple effect of the law being used as a political weapon could impact the business world.
“This shocking and corrupt Interference in the Free Markets for political gain places every New York business transaction at risk. We must make sure Corrupt Politicians and Judges cannot continue to abuse the power of their office, and violate the public trust. We have already won, and will continue the fight on appeal!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump told Fox News the verdict was the result of “a crooked New York judge working with the very corrupt attorney general of New York State, who ran on the basis of ‘I will get Trump’ before knowing me – before even knowing anything about me.”
“This is a witch hunt where the judge ruled against me before he even saw the case,” Trump said, noting that Engoron “strongly stated that said Mar-a-Lago was worth $18 million — when it is worth anywhere from 50 to 100 times more than that.”
Trump said the judge tried to destroy in weeks what took years to build.
“I built a great company and now this whacked-out clubhouse politician judge bars me for three years,” Trump said, calling Engoron “a political hack working in conjunction with a crooked attorney general in the greatest case of election interference anyone has ever seen in this country.”
“He is just a clubhouse politician. This country is becoming worse than Russia ever was,” Trump said, stressing that the trial was pure politics.
“They are doing this because I am beating Biden in the polls by so much. They are trying to stop me, but they will not be successful,” he said, adding, “I’m fighting for America. I’m fighting for the people.”
