Former President Donald Trump bolted out of a New York courtroom after the presiding judge, a Democrat, denied his request for a directed verdict despite the fact that the testimony of the state’s star witness fell apart.
“Trump immediately got up and stormed out of the courtroom with Secret Service agents chasing after him,” NBC News reported. “The move was not expected and appeared to surprise even his attorneys. Gasps could be heard within the courtroom.”
The events unfolded after Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen — the key witness in a $250 million civil fraud lawsuit brought by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James — admitted that the former president had never ordered him to falsify financial statements to artificially inflate his net worth.
At trial, Cohen testified that he could not recall whether Trump or the Trump Organization’s former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, had asked him to do so.
“So Mr. Trump never asked you to inflate the numbers on his financial statement?” Trump defense attorney Cliff Robert asked.
“Correct,” Cohen said, according to CNN.
This was a damning admission for the prosecution since Cohen had served as Trump’s personal attorney from 2006 to 2018.
During his 12-year tenure, he was described as Trump’s “fixer” and someone who had extensive knowledge of all the goings-on within the Trump business empire.
If it were true that Trump had ordered his underlings to inflate his financial records, Cohen surely would have been privy to all this.
On Wednesday, Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York Supreme Court — a Democrat — denied a motion for a directed verdict made by the defense attorney, who argued that Cohen’s exculpatory testimony sank the state’s case.
A directed verdict is a ruling entered by a trial judge when there isn’t sufficient evidence for a jury to conclude that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Because the case against Trump relies heavily on Cohen’s testimony, it’s understandable that the 45th president was furious at the judge’s ruling.
Outside the courtroom, he slammed the judge for denying his request for a directed verdict, saying Cohen’s testimony torpedoed the state’s lawsuit.
“The witness just admitted that we won the trial,” Trump told reporters in the hallway, according to CNN. “And the judge should end this trial immediately.”
According to the New York Daily News, Cohen later testified that Trump didn’t specifically tell him to inflate financial statements but it was an implicit order because the former president “speaks like a mob boss” and “tells you what he wants without specifically telling you.”
This a laughable assertion because Cohen’s conjecture is an admission once again that Trump never ordered him to inflate his financial statements.
On Wednesday night, Trump torched the case against him as a “witch hunt.”
“SleazeBag Attorney Michael Cohen, New York State’s Primary Witness, ADMITTED TODAY THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP NEVER TOLD HIM TO INCREASE ASSET VALUES,” the former president wrote on Truth Social.
He said the case was designed to derail his presidential campaign. Trump is the leading GOP candidate in the 2024 race.
“The New York State Attorney General's case against me is DEAD, but the Radical Left Judge REFUSES to end it. He just can’t let it go,” he wrote.
The timing of this case suggests it is indeed politically motivated.
The brash billionaire has been a businessman and a public figure for most of his adult life.
If the allegations in this fraud lawsuit are true, why wasn’t Trump prosecuted for them during his decades-long business career in New York, or when he ran for president in 2016 and again in 2020?
via westernjournal