Trump Impeachment Attorney Admits He Could and Would Have Sought a Jury in NY Fraud Trial
CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Tuesday morning interviewed Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyer David Schoen about the former president’s civil fraud trial in New York and discussed the debate surrounding it being decided by a judge.
“What’s interesting to me is that you also have a real argument now about whether this could have been a jury trial. This is a judge deciding it’s a bench trial. Here is Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, trying to explain her position on this. And then I want your legal take,” Harlow began, introducing the clip.
“I have to address this one common misconception in the press, and unfortunately it just keeps getting repeated, which is that we have this great option to have a box checked for a jury. No, we didn’t have that. That’s not how this works. They brought it under Section 6312, which is a very narrow, not appropriately used section of the law, which is for consumer protections, not this. And that is why we’re sitting here in front of a judge,” Habbe said in the clip.
“But isn’t she missing the point that when you look at civil practice, law and rules section 4102, it says that a defendant has to request a jury trial within 15 days of the complaint. Was this a mistake, an error by Trump’s legal team?” Harlow then asked.
“It’s a very interesting issue,” Schoen replied diplomatically, adding:
The judge yesterday apparently said that there’s no jury trial because no one asked him for one. So they’re both sort of right. I personally, if you’re asking my personal professional opinion, would have filed a demand for a jury, a jury trial under Section 4102. However, there is a case from 2011 people versus First American Corporation, in which a judge from the same court said there is no right to a jury trial.
Under New York executive law. 6312 The action, the section under which this is brought, because they said the remedies are generally equitable, not money damages. And historically there hasn’t been a right to a jury trial for equitable damages. That is taking away the business license and that sort of thing. But I would have filed a jury demand to litigate the issue because here there are very severe monetary punishments at issue potentially. And I think there’s a strong argument to be made for the right to a jury trial.
Trump already has been found liable in a New York court for defrauding insurance companies and lenders by inflating his net worth for years. New York’s Attorney General Letitia James, who Trump continues to attack, brought the suit against Trump, his eldest sons, and his company and is seeking $250 million in penalties and to ban Trump from doing business in the state. The current trial is to determine those penalties.
Watch above via CNN.
