Former President Donald Trump blasted Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James after leaving a courtroom in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday, the third day of his civil fraud trial, concerned about his alleged overvaluation of his assets.
After exiting the courtroom, the former president stopped to address media members waiting outside and lamented being “stuck” at the trial instead of campaigning for president. Trump accused James of coordinating with the Justice Department to keep him off the campaign trail.
“I’m here, stuck here, and I can’t campaign. I’d rather be right now in Iowa. I’d rather be in New Hampshire or, South Carolina or, Ohio, or a lot of other places. But, I’m stuck here because I have a corrupt attorney general that communicates with the DOJ in Washington to keep me nice and busy because I’m leading Biden in the polls by a lot,” said Trump.
“This is election interference. They make up a fake case, these fraudulent people. And the judge already knows what he’s going to do. He’s a Democrat judge. In all fairness to him, he has no choice,” said Trump. “I know this city better than anybody who knows this city. Nobody knows it like I do. He’s a Democrat judge out of the clubhouses, he’s controlled, and it’s a shame. What’s going on here is a shame. Our whole system is corrupt. This is corrupt, Atlanta is corrupt, and what’s coming out of D.C. is corrupt.”
He accused James of wanting “the publicity” from targeting him and his finances because in 2021, amid the investigation, she was running for governor in New York. She ultimately dropped out after only two months to run for re-election as attorney general instead.
Trump denounced the judge for undervaluing his Mar-a-Lago estate
Trump also used the opportunity to denounce Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the trial, for valuing his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate at only $18 million instead of what he claims should be “50 to 100 times more than that.”
“The smallest house in Palm Beach is probably worth $50 million. And this is the biggest, the best anywhere in the country. There’s nothing like it,” said Trump. “And by the way, my financial documents are valued much less than my actual value, which nobody even knows. But the financial documents that I gave to the bank are much less than my actual net worth.”
“They can’t be fraudulent because I gave them lower numbers. I’m probably one of the only people ever to seek a loan — I didn’t even need the loan because you see the kind of cash I have. I didn’t even need loans,” added Trump.
Trump went on further to say he never planned to reveal how much cash he had because of the success of his private company; however, James’ lawsuit forced him to do so. He added her team had “no case” against him.
Last week, Engoron ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving insurers, banks, and others by exaggerating his net worth and overvaluing his assets on paperwork to secure financing and make deals.
This week’s trial stems from James’ lawsuit against the former president, the Trump Organization, and his children, alleging he “inflated his net worth by billions of dollars” and said his children helped him do so.
