Donald Trump's New York civil fraud trial resumes Thursday and will continue with closing arguments.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump announced that he was seeking another term in office and officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign.
The proceedings were briefly disrupted following a bomb threat at the home of Judge Arthur Engoron, who had recently forbade the former president from delivering his own closing statements. Trump, the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly belittled the judge, accusing him in a social media post Wednesday night of working closely with the New York Attorney General "to screw me," as per The Associated Press.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, wants the judge to impose $370 million in penalties. Trump says he did nothing wrong, didn't lie about his fortune, and is the victim of political persecution.
The former president had hoped to make that argument personally, but Engoron -- who had initially been open to the idea -- said that would not be possible after his lawyer missed a deadline for agreeing to ground rules. Among the rules, Engoron warned Trump that he could not use his closing remarks to "deliver a campaign speech" or use the opportunity to challenge the judge and his staff. Trump's lawyers have already appealed Engoron's ruling against Trump and have reiterated throughout the trial that they plan to appeal his subsequent decision, too.
According to The Associated Press, at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, just hours before the trial's final was set to begin, Nassau County police said they responded to a "swatting incident" at Engoron's Great Neck home. Officials said nothing amiss was found at the location. The phony emergency call comes days after a shooting was reported at the home of the judge overseeing Trump's Capitol attack criminal case in Washington, D.C. The two incidents follow a string of similar false reports at the homes of public officials in recent days.
A spokesman for the Nassau County police department confirmed by The New York Times, said that there was an investigation at the house of the judge, Arthur F. Engoron, who in several hours is expected to hear closing arguments in Mr. Trump's case. Two people with knowledge of the matter said that the threat involved a bomb and that the bomb squad came to the house.
The last-minute drama over Trump's role on the final day of the civil fraud trial encapsulates what has been a bitter, argument-filled, three-month-long circus pitting Trump and his attorneys against both the New York attorney general's office and the judge overseeing the case said CNN. The article also stated that the former president has railed against the trial, accusing the attorney general and the judge of participating in a political attack against him. He attended the trial over multiple days and testified at the trial, turning the witness's stand and his statements outside of the courtroom into extensions of his campaign rallies.
"THIS IS A RIGGED AND UNFAIR TRIAL - NO JURY, NO VICTIMS, A GREAT FINANCIAL STATEMENT," Trump said on his Truth Social account Wednesday.
Judge Engoron will not issue a decision on Thursday but will issue a written order by the end of the month at the earliest.
