Trump slams judge as he returns to New York fraud trial

Former President Donald Trump returned to court in Manhattan on Tuesday to attend the ongoing civil fraud trial against him and his company.

Outside the courtroom at Manhattan Supreme Court, Trump slammed the judge who will decide the case.

“He’s a Democrat judge, he’s very liberal, and I believe he’s under a lot of pressure,” Trump told reporters stationed in the hallway.

Trump also repeated attacks against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case accusing Trump, two of his 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.

Both James and Trump were present in court Tuesday morning.

Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and others in the case are liable for fraud. The judge’s decision revoked the defendants’ New York business certificates and ordered an independent receiver to oversee their dissolution. A New York appeals court has temporarily paused the cancellation of those certificates.

The trial centers on James’ six remaining claims in the case, which is being conducted without a jury. Engoron will deliver verdicts in the case himself.

Trump’s remarks outside court came after he slammed Engoron as a “Radical Left Democrat” in a social media post Tuesday morning.

“America cannot let this happen. Our legal system is corrupt and broken!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump had initially planned to be present at the trial 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…