MEDIAITE
Judge Arthur Engoron allowed former President Donald Trump to address the court in his New York civil fraud trial after lawyers wrapped up their closing arguments.
Trump’s attorneys had previously asked the judge if the Republican frontrunner could participate in closing arguments. However, Trump refused to agree to Engoron’s restrictions, which included sticking to the material facts of the case, refraining from attacking the judge along with his staff, or diving into a campaign speech.
According to CNN, Trump was eventually allowed to speak from the defense table for approximately five minutes before he was cut off by Engoron. His comments were similar to his public criticisms of the case, claiming it was a “political witch hunt.”
“The facts are the financial statements are perfect, that there are no witnesses against us. The banks got all their money paid back. There were great loans,” Trump told the judge, claiming he “should receive damages.”
Trump went beyond discussing just the facts of the case like Engoron requested and began claiming the case was part of an effort to stop him from running for office.
“We have a situation where I’m an innocent man I’ve been persecuted by somebody running for office and I think you have to go outside the bounds,” he added. “What’s happened here sir is a fraud on me…They want to make sure that I don’t win again and this is partially election interference.”
Trump directly attacked the judge before he was cut off saying, “You have your own agenda, I certainly understand that. You can’t listen for more than one minute,” according to Politico’s Erica Orden.
As CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported, Engoron “let Trump continue before then saying he had one minute left. He then cut him off and urged his attorney to ‘please control your client.’”
