New York: Former US President Donald Trump stormed off from the lower Manhattan court after an angry face of with his former attorney Michel Cohen and the judge Arthur Engoron who slapped a $10,000 dollar fine for defying a gag order in the $250 million civil tax fraud against him by District Attorney Letitia James. He called the judge and his former attorney as being partisan.
Trump stormed out of a New York City courtroom on Wednesday after a heated day in court in which the former president was called to the witness stand in his $250 million state fraud case and fined $10,000 for violating an earlier gag order. He was fined $5,000 in the first instance, multiple media reports said.
Trump’s abrupt departure took everyone by surprise including his lawyers and his Secret Service agents, who went running after him.
He returned to the courtroom in Manhattan after the court day ended and after his former lawyer Michael Cohen finished his contentious testimony where he testified that he had inflated Trump Business assets over current real estate values at the instance of Trump, NBC reported.
Judge Arthur Engoron presiding over the Trump business cases slapped the 2nd penalty on Trump of $10,000 for his observation to reporters earlier that the person sitting next to the judge was “partisan”.
Trump said he was referring to Cohen, whom he has called a rat, a liar and a felon, multiple media reports said besides calling him a proven liar, cheat and fraudster.
Trump told reporters earlier that Engoron is “a very partisan judge with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is”.
Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba asked that there be no eye-rolling or whispers from the bench during her questioning of Cohen, NBC reported.
After Judge Engoron said he found Trump’s brief testimony “not credible” and fined Trump for violating the gag order and smeared his law clerk in social media, a red-faced and angry-looking Trump stormed out of the courtroom 45 minutes later after Engoron denied a motion from his lawyers on a separate legal issue.
The abrupt departure appeared to catch even his attorneys by surprise and caused gasps throughout the courtroom.
“The witness just admitted that we won the trial and the judge should end this trial immediately. Thank you,” Trump told reporters after he left.
Trump’s lawyer Cliff Robert contradicted Cohen’s testimony and said that Trump never instructed Cohen to inflate his financial statements.
Under questioning from the state attorney general’s office, Cohen testified later that Trump didn’t specifically tell him to inflate the numbers and said he was like a “mob boss” who tells you what he wants without directly telling you, NBC said.
When Cohen wrapped up his fiery two days on the witness stand, Robert again asked Engoron for a directed verdict, a request that was “absolutely denied”.
“This case has credible evidence all over the place,” said judge Engoron, who has already ruled that Trump engaged in “persistent fraud” with his financial statements.
“There is enough evidence in this case to fill this courtroom,” he added.
Cohen told reporters after he left the courtroom: “They wanted to make a motion to dismiss the case, to which the judge responded: ‘Yeah, absolutely not’. You know why? Because he will ultimately be held accountable.”
State Attorney General Letitia James said Cohen, who admitted to having previously lied under oath in court and to Congress while he was on the witness stand, is “not the main witness” in the case.
(IANS)
