(RepublicanNews.org) – Former President Donald Trump’s request to postpone the enforcement of the $355 million judgment following the verdict of his New York civil fraud case has been rejected by Judge Arthur Engoron.
The decision was filed on Thursday, February 22nd, and in an email from Engoron to the former president’s attorney Clifford S. Robert, the judge said Trump’s legal team “failed to explain” or “justify” a stay of the judgment.
The former president and his co-defendants are granted 30 days from the date of the judgment’s filing to post bond and file an appeal, which Trump said he will do. The total penalties amount to $364 million against Trump, his co-defendants, and his companies. Two of the co-defendants are his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the third is Allen Weisselberg, former COO of The Trump Organization.
They will also “face a statutory interest rate of 9%” under the judgment. Additionally, the order bars the former president from conducting business in New York State “as an officer or director” for up to three years.
Trump’s legal team argues that the defendants should’ve been notified by New York Attorney General Letitia James (who brought the civil fraud case against them) before she submitted a draft proposal to the judge to be signed four days after the ruling. James brought the case against the defendants in 2020, then indicted them in March 2023, accusing Trump and his sons of defrauding banks and insurance companies by overvaluing properties in order to build their real estate empire.
Trump is also trying to have his charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents thrown out, recently filing seven separate motions arguing multiple defenses, including that he has presidential immunity. He’s using the same argument to try and dismiss the Washington, D.C., case accusing him or trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The former president maintains that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and that the legal system is being weaponized against him by his political opponents.
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