Former President Donald Trump could be seen glowering at reporters in the courtroom where his fraud trial would later erupt as he and attorney Alina Habba gave stunning closing arguments.
The trial in the fraud case brought by Attorney General Letitia James and presided over by Judge Arthur Engoron concluded with closing arguments on Thursday — and lots of unexpected fireworks.
But hours before that, Trump ranted about the case outside the courtroom, after which pool cameras were led in to capture the scene for news B-roll and the like.
Trump could be seen giving hard stares to reporters in the courtroom, and muttered something inaudible at one point. Habba was stone-faced, while AG James gave a slight smile to the photogs. Judge Engoron could be seen bantering with his clerk.
Trump was initially forbidden to speak in court after his lawyers refused to agree to restrictions, but Engoron relented — and Trump pounced in court. In a scene that stunned observers, Trump and Habba went off:
After the trial Trump held a raucous and falsehood-riddled press conference at the building he bragged about on 9/11, but with Habba delivering her own diatribe first:
Engoron asked Trump if he could abide by the restrictions he put into place, and limit his comments to the facts of the case. Trump indicated he would not, but began to speak anyway.”Well, I think, your honor, that this case goes outside just the facts. The financial statements were perfect, the
banks got back their money and are happy as can be,” Trump said.”When you say don’t go outside of these things, we have a situation where I’m an innocent man, I’ve been persecuted by someone running for office and I think you have to go outside the bounds,” Trump said, referring to James.He said the attorney general had misused a statute designed to target consumer fraud.”This is a fraud on me. What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me,” Trump said, before adding that the state should be forced to pay him damages as punishment for pursuing the case.Trump said he “never had a problem” before running for office and directed his ire toward the judge.”You have your own agenda, you can’t listen for more than one minute, this has been a persecution,” he told Engoron, who interrupted and told Kise to “control your client.”Engoron then continued: “By the way, you said you’ve never had a problem. Haven’t you been sued before?”Trump demurred. “Your honor, look, I did nothing wrong. They should pay me for what we had to go through,” he said.
Watch above via AP livestream.