On Monday morning Donald made a guest appearance at his latest reality show "The Defendant." Just like his last show, "The Apprentice," there was no reason for him to be there. He wasn't going to make a statement or testify. So his presence was likely just an opportunity for him grab some media time to do what he does best: rant incoherently.
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The matter before the court on this occasion is Trump's allegedly fraudulent financial filings for his New York businesses under the umbrella of The Trump Organization. He has been charged with falsely appraising his real estate properties in order to illegally gain favorable loan terms and to underpay his taxes. His defense appears to be little more than shouting vicious insults at New York Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron. Which he has been doing for more than a year now.
SEE THIS: Trump Viciously Attacks Judge for Assigning Monitor to Prevent His Continuing Criminal Acts
Trump has good reason to be scared. The judge in this case ruled last week in a summary judgement that Trump and his businesses committed fraud. His business licenses in the state have been revoked. If upheld, Trump would be forced to divest his New York properties, including Trump Tower, and perhaps many other properties nationwide associated with the New York enterprise.
Prior to entering the courtroom, Trump spoke to the press in the typically hostile manner that America has become familiar with and grossly annoyed by. And true to form, the only message that he had to convey was what a pathetic victim he is of a vast conspiracy to destroy him. He raged that...
"This is a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time. We have a rogue judge who rules that properties are worth a tiny fraction - 1/100th - a tiny fraction of what they actually are. We have a racist Attorney General who’s a horror show, who ran on the basis that she was going to 'get Trump' before she even knew anything about me. She used this to run for governor. She failed in her attempt to run for governor. She had virtually no polling. She came back and said 'Well now I'll go back to get Trump again.'"
To Trump, everything that has happened to him for the past eight years - no matter how unrelated to one another - is "a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time." And everyone that he considers an enemy is part of an international anti-Trump cabal.
Trump's lies that his properties are massively undervalued are precisely what he is on trial for today. And he still isn't providing any proof of the preposterous values that he claims they should have. As for this prosecution, he complained, without evidence, that "They’ve totally coordinated this in Washington." And that “This has to do with election interference plain and simple." And that "It’s never happened before where the president of the United States leaves office and gets indicted." The latter complaint is actually true. But only because no president or former president has ever committed so many crimes.
However, Trump wasn't finished. He continued his personal attacks on Judge Engoron saying that...
"This is a judge that should be disbarred. This is a judge that should be out of office. This is a judge that some people say could be charged criminally for what he's doing. He’s interfering with an election."
In other words, this is a judge that Trump knows has the goods on him and who he is desperately afraid of. Trump closed his pre-trial tirade by saying that "This is what we have. It’s a scam, it’s a sham." Which sounds just a little familiar…
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