MSNBC Legal Analyst Insists that $515 Million Trump Legal Victory Isn’t a ‘Win’
The Trump Organization may be off the hook for a $515 million penalty imposed by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron in the Feb. 2024 civil fraud trial, but that doesn’t mean the company didn’t engage in “massive fraud,” according to MSNBC legal contributor Barbara McQuade.
Shortly after the appeals court ruling Thursday, MSNBC host Ali Vitali cited Eric Trump’s social media post calling the New York attorney general’s case a “sham.”
“Eric Trump calling this a ‘total victory.’ But, is it?” She asked McQuade.
“No, it’s anything but,” McQuade answered, adding, “What’s really important is, even though the court found that the fine was excessive and has eliminated that under the Eighth Amendment, what it said, most importantly, is that there was fraud, that the verdict was absolutely sound, that the evidence showed that the Trump Organization engaged in massive fraud, and that is not going anywhere.”
In addition, McQuade clarified that the appeals court upheld “all of the injunctive relief. That is, requiring an independent monitor to make sure that this pattern of massive fraud stops to protect the public. Barring some of the Trump Organization officials from serving in corporate leadership roles. All of that stands.”
McQuade conceded that “certainly, it is a benefit to the Trump Organization not have to pay $500 million in a fine,” but added, “What’s important here is that the court upheld the finding that the Trump Organization engaged in massive fraud.”
“So, still liable for fraud — just doesn’t have to pay for it,” Vitali summed up.
She then asked about the fact that Trump is having the DOJ investigate NY Attorney General Letitia James.
“Well, I think the optics are terrible when you say that I’m going to investigate the person who investigated me,” McQuade said. “I will also add that I think Tish James was wrong to campaign on the idea that she was going to investigate Donald Trump, because I think it gave people this fodder to suggest that she was on a witch hunt.”
But McQuade concluded by arguing that because “the evidence was there that Trump did engage in this fraud” any investigation into James “in this case, is going to fall flat.”
Watch the clip above via MSNBC.
