Former US President and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump holds a campaign event during a Club 47 USA event at Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida on October 11, 2023.
Giorgio Viera | Afp | Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump returned to court in Manhattan on Tuesday to attend the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial against him and his company.
Trump had initially planned to be present at the trial in Manhattan Supreme Court this week for the testimony of Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer.
Cohen’s testimony before Congress in 2019, in which he alleged that the Trump Organization misleadingly changed the values of key real estate assets for financial benefits, prompted New York Attorney General Letitia James to launch a probe into Trump and his business.
But Cohen’s expected appearance in the trial was delayed because of what he called a “pre-existing medical condition that impedes my ability to testify.”
“Rest assured, I will testify at the earliest opportunity,” Cohen said Saturday in a statement to NBC News.
James’ probe led to the lawsuit accusing Trump, two of his adult sons, the Trump Organization and others of a yearslong pattern of business fraud. James seeks around $250 million in damages, and a court order permanently barring Trump and other defendants from running a business in New York.
Trump has denied wrongdoing. He repeatedly criticized James, the judge and the proceedings generally when he was in court for part of the first week of the trial in early October.
During that stretch, Judge Arthur Engoron imposed a partial gag order on Trump after the former president sent a social media post attacking the judge’s law clerk.
Engoron ordered Trump and others in the case not to speak publicly about any member of his staff.
Trump has since been hit with another partial gag order in a federal criminal case in Washington, D.C., where he faces charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, left the New York civil trial after two-and-a-half days, after complaining that he was “stuck here” instead of campaigning.
He is not required to attend the trial, which is expected to last until late December.
Engoron is conducting the trial without a jury and will deliver verdicts in the case himself.
Trump in the Truth Social post Tuesday morning repeated his claim that he has been unfairly denied a jury in the case.
“I can’t have a JURY and am being viciously tried under a Statute that has never been used before. The Radical Left Democrat Judge, WHO IS HIGHLY POLITICAL, serves as Judge, Jury, and everything else,” he said.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.