Testimony in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial concluded on Wednesday in New York, capping an 11-week saga that could decide the fate of the former president’s business empire.
The drama in and out of the courtroom offered a preview of Trump’s criminal trials slated to begin next year. Trump used the hallways, flanked with cameras, outside of the courtroom to campaign and rail against the case and throw barbs at New York Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron.
Trump also was hit with a gag order after attacking one of the judge’s clerks.
Before the trial began, Engoron found Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud; the trial would determine what they could owe in improper gains and six additional claims brought by the attorney general. The attorney general is seeking more than $250 million and to bar the Trumps from doing business in the state.
A final ruling won’t come until next year.
On the last day of the trial, Engoron began the court session by reminiscing on the spectacle of the past 11 weeks.
“In a strange way, I’m gonna miss this trial,” the judge said. “It’s been an experience.”
Here’s what to know:
Though it is not a criminal case, Trump took the allegations in the civil fraud allegations personally, as they hit directly at his business and his brand. When in the Manhattan courthouse, he would nearly always speak to television cameras at breaks while entering and exiting the courtroom.
That gave Trump a perch to attack the civil trial – and the four criminal indictments against him – and connect all of the charges to his campaign for president. Trump has made his legal peril part of his pitch to voters to return him to the White House, and the courthouses where he’s appeared have become part of the 2024 campaign trial.
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