Former President Trump asked the New York judge who oversaw his recent criminal trial to delay his sentencing until after November’s presidential election.
Judge Juan Merchan previously agreed to push the date back until September so he can first decide whether the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision requires tossing Trump’s guilty verdict.
“[S]etting aside naked election-interference objectives, there is no valid countervailing reason for the Court to keep the current sentencing date on the calendar,” Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a letter to the judge, which was made public Thursday.
“There is no basis for continuing to rush,” the letter continued. “Accordingly, we respectfully request that any sentencing, if one is needed, be adjourned until after the Presidential election.”
In May, a New York jury convicted Trump on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Trump’s sentencing in New York was originally slated for July, but the judge pushed it back to Sept. 18 after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for official acts.
According to The Hill, Trump does not claim immunity from the hush money charges themselves, but he asserts that prosecutors at trial improperly introduced immunized evidence, so his verdict must be wiped as a result. Prosecutors have pushed back on the argument, and Merchan is set to rule on the matter two days before sentencing.
Trump’s attorneys said the small gap is an “unreasonably short period of time,” signaling the former president will immediately attempt to appeal if the judge rejects his immunity arguments.
“The requested adjournment is also necessary to allow President Trump adequate time to assess and pursue state and federal appellate options in response to adverse ruling,” the letter reads.
“Notwithstanding the Court’s ruling on the disputed recusal issue, the requested adjournment would prospectively mitigate the asserted conflicts and appearances of impropriety, which are also the subject of an ongoing congressional inquiry,” Blanche and Bove wrote in the letter.
Former President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]
On a bustling Thursday night in San Francisco, former President Donald Trump marked another impressive milestone in his 2024 presidential campaign. The presumptive Republican nominee and front-runner, according to the polls, celebrated a monumental $12 million fundraising haul. The fundraising event, hosted by prominent Silicon Valley figures, David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, highlighted the undeniable shift in the tech industry, an arena traditionally dominated by liberal ideologies.
“These are brilliant guys – AI guys – these are the guys that are doing all the things you read about,” Trump gushed to Fox News Digital. These are just a brilliant group of people. And they can’t relate to Biden because he is a stupid person – and I have a high IQ.”
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“They don’t like dealing with an IQ that’s like, you know, 1/3 of theirs, because it is a difficult thing when someone has an IQ of 180, it is difficult to deal with a man with an IQ of 70 – or maybe lower,” Trump added, attempting to goad the current president.
Sacks endorsed Trump hours before the high-dollar fundraiser at his multimillion-dollar home, located near the residence of Nancy and Paul Pelosi, symbolizing the growing willingness of certain tech industry leaders to publicly support Trump, a stance that previously rendered individuals persona non grata in Silicon Valley. (RELATED: San Francisco Sued Over Gender Scheme Targeting Minority Men)
Known for his business acumen and successful investments, including his status as an angel investor for Facebook, Uber, SpaceX, and Airbnb, Sachs’ support signals a broader acceptance of Trump’s candidacy within a traditionally GOP skeptical community.
Trump told Fox News Digital that Sacks’ “strong” endorsement “is a great testament to what I’ve accomplished.”
“David Sacks — the king of that world — David Sacks and the group that we were with are the most respected people in San Francisco from both a business and high tech standpoint,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “They love our country and they understand what’s happening into the future with technology better than any group, anywhere in the world.”
“One of the primary reasons for the endorsement was the four years that we had in office, which was the best four years ever for high tech, which will play an increasingly important role in the future of our country, especially as it relates to AI and all of the other new and brilliant technologies coming right at this moment,” Trump said. “It is a very exciting time and it is a great honor to have the most brilliant minds supporting, by far, the most brilliant leader.”
Why I’m Backing President Trump
As many press accounts have reported, I’m hosting a fundraising event for President Donald J. Trump at my home in San Francisco this evening.
Over the last couple of years, I have hosted events for presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, Vivek…
“My reasons rest on four main issues that I think are vital to American prosperity, security and stability — issues where the Biden administration has veered badly off course and where I believe President Trump can lead us back,” Sacks said Thursday.
Other guests at Sacks’ Pacific Heights fundraiser included the Winklevoss twins, who successfully sued Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea, which later became Facebook.
JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“He wasn’t the guy I see on TV,” one source told the New York Post. “He was very thoughtful and self-deprecating.” More than 100 guest attended the San Francisco soirée, paying as much as $300,000 a head.
Historically, Silicon Valley has been a bastion of liberal politics, with many tech leaders supporting Democratic candidates and policies. This alignment was driven by shared values around social issues and environmental sustainability. (RELATED: Google Shuts Down Its AI Chatbot ‘Gemini’ For Being Woke And Racist)
However, the dynamics may be changing. The industry’s rapid growth has brought increased scrutiny and regulatory pressures from Democratic lawmakers. Concerns over antitrust actions, data privacy regulations and labor practices have strained relationships between tech giants and the Democratic Party.
In contrast, Trump’s deregulatory stance, pro-business policies and tax reforms align with the interests of a growing number of Silicon Valley insiders.
Tucker Carlson posted a cryptic video message to his Twitter profile late Wednesday evening in his first public comments since his shocking departure from Fox News.
During the just over two-minute message, Carlson said he had realized after “stepping outside the noise for a few days” how many “genuinely nice people there are in this country.”
“The other thing you notice when you take a little time off is how unbelievably stupid most of the debates on television are,” he continued. “They’re completely irrelevant. They mean nothing. In five years, we won’t even remember we had them. Trust me as someone who has participated in them.”
“Both political parties and their donors have reached consensus on what benefits them and they actively collude to shut down any conversation about it,” Carlson said in his video message. “When honest people say what’s true, calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful. At the same time, the liars who have been trying to silence them shrink. They become weaker. That’s the iron law of the universe.”
Carlson ended his message by suggesting that his audience, which often topped more than 3 million people each weeknight while at Fox, would soon hear from him again.
Carlson ended his message by suggesting that his audience, which often topped more than 3 million people each weeknight while at Fox, would soon hear from him again.
“Where can you still find Americans saying true things there aren’t many places left but there are some, and that’s enough,” Carlson said. “As long as you can hear the words, there is hope. See you soon.”
ANALYSIS – Totally tone deaf. Just a little reminder of how ridiculously biased, partisan and idiotic our mainstream media has become, including the fluffy fashion forums.
First Lady Jill Biden, the incredibly unstylish, power-hungry, social climbing, faux intellectual with an unserious Doctor of Education (EdD), has again graced the cover of Vogue magazine.
The New York Post noted how remarkably out of touch the Biden White House is:
After Biden’s horrific debate performance on Thursday, much of the media world reluctantly conceded that our 46th president looks like a lost toddler.
And then there’s Vogue — which literally couldn’t stop the presses. The fashion-bible-turned-Dem-PR-machine was already rolling out its July issue, with cover model Jill Biden in a silk cream Ralph Lauren dress that retails for $4,990.
Office of the President of the United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The magazine landed on the internet Monday morning with a resounding, wincing thud.
It was tone deaf. It was tacky — but this shoot and interview, conducted months ago, would have been messy even if the debate disaster had never happened.
Fox News host Jimmy Failla on X had this to say about the horrible caregiver of the elderly and frail Joe Biden:
Melania Trump is an actual super model who speaks 5 languages but she’s NEVER been on the cover of Vogue. Jill Biden commits vicious elder abuse on the world stage and now has two Vogue covers to show for it. Congrats Jill, you’ll be great in “The Devil Wears Depends.”
Melania Trump is an actual super model who speaks 5 languages but she's NEVER been on the cover of Vogue. Jill Biden commits vicious elder abuse on the world stage and now has two Vogue covers to show for it. Congrats Jill, you'll be great in "The Devil Wears Depends."
Former NBC senior executive Mike Sington said, “First Lady Jill Biden appears on the cover of Vogue magazine, which seems like a good time to remind you that Melania Trump never appeared on the cover of Vogue when she was First Lady.”
C.J. Pearson, a co-chair of the GOP Youth Advisory Council, said: “Outside of how tone deaf this following Joe Biden‘s disastrous debate performance, it is even more absurd that Jill Biden somehow graced the cover of Vogue and @MELANIATRUMP was never given the opportunity. Asinine even.”
Another user on X noted: “She will NEVER be Melania.”
Dr. Jill, as she insists on being called, first appeared on a Vogue cover in 2021 right after Joe Biden was inaugurated. She later appeared on the cover of the digital Winter 2023 issue.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump, an actual former supermodel who speaks several languages, and was exemplary, and always stylish and immaculately attired, as first lady is still shunned by the fashion world.
Back in 2005, when she was getting married to The Donald, and well before Trump became president, Melania did get her own Vogue cover as Trump’s new bride. But oddly, she never again got a cover for Vogue or any other fashion, or mainstream magazine. (RELATED: Melania Trump Addresses Jan. 6 for First Time)
Melania Trump is an actual super model who speaks 5 languages but she's NEVER been on the cover of Vogue. Jill Biden commits vicious elder abuse on the world stage and now has two Vogue covers to show for it. Congrats Jill, you'll be great in "The Devil Wears Depends."
Former NBC senior executive Mike Sington said, “First Lady Jill Biden appears on the cover of Vogue magazine, which seems like a good time to remind you that Melania Trump never appeared on the cover of Vogue when she was First Lady.”
C.J. Pearson, a co-chair of the GOP Youth Advisory Council, said: “Outside of how tone deaf this following Joe Biden‘s disastrous debate performance, it is even more absurd that Jill Biden somehow graced the cover of Vogue and @MELANIATRUMP was never given the opportunity. Asinine even.”
Another user on X noted: “She will NEVER be Melania.”
The fact that she never landed a Vogue cover in her White House years was such a point of consternation that the former First Lady Trump criticized Wintour, who also serves as Condé Nast’s chief content officer, for it during a 2022 Fox News interview.
As Jill Biden‘s role in encouraging President Joe Biden to stay in the presidential race — despite his lackluster performance in Thursday night’s debate with Donald Trump — continues to be hashed over in the media and around the globe, Vogue debuted its August issue with the first lady on its cover.
In this already deeply divided country, the Condé Nast fashion magazine — intentionally or not — has ratcheted up the public dispute about Biden’s full-steam-ahead plans. As of Monday afternoon, Vogue‘s post of the first lady’s cover had 51,960 likes and 5,286 comments. The first lady donned an ivory Ralph Lauren Collection dress for the Norman Jean Roy-shot cover that accompanied Maya Singer’s interview.
Of course, Vogue’s editorial direction is strongly liberal. WWD added:
Requests for comment from Vogue’s global editorial director Anna Wintour and Singer through a Vogue spokesperson were declined. The company spokesperson said, “It’s no secret that Anna has been a supporter of Democratic campaigns for decades. Our August cover story is a look at the tremendous work Dr. Biden has done, and the most urgent issues in 2024 and beyond.”
Meanwhile, a parting comment: Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt wrote, “Nice puff piece on the most valueless person in America and her bid to keep her corpse-like husband into the White House to stay relevant.”
Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.
ANALYSIS – The establishment media and liberal elites in the U.S.and Europe regularly condemn Hungarian president Victor Orban’s alleged ‘illiberalism,’ but U.S. conservatives see his domestic model, if not his foreign policy, as a welcome success story.
Most recently American conservatives flocked to Budapest for a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in May.
Sadly, I was unable to attend but would have loved to have been there.
At the next CPAC in Dallas, Texas this August, Orban was given a standing ovation.
So, what is it about Orban that American conservatives like so much?
First, let me say there are things not to like about him and his government.
They have been somewhat authoritarian against the press and opposition parties. Though some would claim that this was a needed housecleaning of entrenched leftist interests.
My biggest complaint though is Orban’s and his Fidesz party’s soft approach toward Russia and Vladimir Putin (in great part due to Hungary’s energy dependence), and his relative lack of support for his invaded neighbor, Ukraine.
I’m also unhappy and extremely concerned by his close ties to Communist China.
Under Orban, Hungary was the first European country to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the country has been called Beijing’s closest European ally.
This makes a mockery of Orban’s original anti-communist ideals and gives Beijing a strategic foothold in the heart of Europe.
However, China’s growing influence in Hungary is increasingly unpopular and has created a growing backlash. It featured prominently in the opposition’s campaign against Orban in the recent elections (which Orban’s party won in a landslide).
I would like to see Orban and his party go back to their roots in opposing Communist China, and all similar regimes, including Putin’s Russia.
But most U.S. conservatives don’t look at Orban’s foreign policies. They are far more interested in his domestic policies. And they like what they see.
…American conservatives find Mr. Orban’s willingness to use the state to fight culture wars tremendously exciting.
He has made gay marriage constitutionally illegal (civil partnerships are allowed) and banned content “promoting” LGBT lifestyles from schools.
He has also banned same-sex adoptions and ended legal recognition for transgender people, making it impossible for them to legally change their sex.
Then in September, he introduced a law forcing women wanting an abortion to listen to the fetus’ heartbeat first.
And then there are his successful battles against immigration and adverse demography.
The Telegraph continues:
It is now illegal to claim asylum at the Hungarian border instead of at one of the country’s consulates, for example, and he has built not one but two controversial walls on the border with Serbia and Croatia.
He has also ushered in rules which mean families having three or more children are effectively exempt from tax in a bid to push up Hungary’s population.
Due to his policies, the fertility rate in Hungary has gone from 1.2 births per woman to 1.6, curbing the need for more immigrants.
I would support all these policies, in whole or in part, here in the U.S.
And compared to the militant secularism of the French right, American conservatives also find his party’s religiosity reassuring, and more aligned with traditional American Christian values.
Meanwhile, the conservative right is winning in other places, such as Italy, with the surprising victory of Georgia Meloni, and soon in the U.S. with Republicans retaking the House, and possibly the Senate too.
In France, in June, the conservative party of Marine Le Pen secured enough seats to form a parliamentary group, giving it more clout, for the first time in four decades.
And the right is about to return to Israel under Bibi Netanyahu.
The only big loss globally was in Brazil, where Jair Bolsonaro apparently just lost to Socialist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. That loss is likely less due to ideology than personality, but it is a loss, nonetheless.
The takeaway from all this though is that until recently there hasn’t been a global conservative movement with similar ideas to counter the vast ‘Socialist International.’
But things are changing now. And Orban’s Hungary is at the center of it. Or maybe to the right of it.
Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.
Marine One lifts-off after returning President Donald J. Trump to Mar-a-Lago Friday, March 29, 2019, following his visit to the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike near Canal Point, Fla., that surrounds Lake Okeechobee. The visit was part of an infrastructure inspection of the dike, which is part of the Kissimmee-Okeechobee Everglades system, and reduces impacts of flooding for areas of south Florida. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) [Photo Credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]
Judge Aileen Cannon suspended a key deadline in former President Trump’s documents case after his attorneys suggested that special counsel Jack Smith’s team had “failed to preserve critical evidence” in the case after prosecutors disclosed some classified records may not be in the original order in which they were found.
In a Saturday letter posted to the court docket Tuesday morning, Trump’s legal team pounces on the admission by Smith’s team that the order in which the documents were found may have shifted slightly.
“Your failure to disclose the spoliation of this evidence until this month is an extraordinary breach of your constitutional and ethical obligations, Trump attorney Todd Blanche wrote.
The letter lays out a series of demands for more information, including on the instructions given to those who initially searched the boxes, all communications surrounding the searches of the boxes and their movements, and a list of personnel who had access to them.
“If the investigative team found a document with classification markings, it removed the document, segregated it, and replaced it with a placeholder sheet. The investigative team used classified cover sheets for that purpose, until the FBI ran out because there were so many classified documents, at which point the team began using blank sheets with handwritten notes indicating the classification level of the document(s) seized,” prosecutors noted.
Trump’s team in their letter shot back at Smith’s efforts to dismiss the issue, saying it has repercussions beyond what classified information might be presented at trial.
“You cannot seriously contend that your recent spoliation concession is irrelevant to President Trump’s pending pretrial motions,” Blanche wrote.
The suspension marks yet another delay in a prosecution where Cannon has yet to even set a new trial date, casting further doubt on the chances the case will come before a jury ahead of the election.
Looking east towards 6th Avenue along north (48th Street) side of Fox News building on a snowy afternoon. [Photo Credit: Jim.henderson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons]
A progressive veterans organization is pushing to ban the airing of Fox News on U.S. military bases.
According to The Hill, a new ad by the group VoteVets hones in on recent revelations made as part of a legal fight the network faces over its coverage of the 2020 election.
A narrator for the ad says Fox engaged in “information warfare that divides the troops, hurts unit cohesion, weakens our readiness, and threatens our national security.”
“There’s no excuse for allowing anti-American, anti-democracy anti-military disinformation in the barracks, in the chow hall or anywhere our troops serve,” the ad says.
Watch the ad here below:
Fox News is currently embroiled in a 1.6 billion defamation suit against Dominion Voting Systems. The company has argued Fox intentionally aired false claims about the company regarding the 2020 election.
Fox has so far unsuccessfully moved to have the case dismissed on First Amendment grounds.
Fox released the following statement on the ongoing legal matter:
“Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims,” the network said in its most recent statement about the case.
“Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear Fox for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment.”
Recent court documents from the ongoing dispute revealed some network executives and prime-time lineup privately doubted former President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud after losing reelection. However, some of them expressed fear that any fact-checkers might alienate their audience.
American Liberty News previously reported that at one point, Laura Ingraham’s producer messaged network management, saying her “BS” about the election would wind up giving him “a f*cking aneurysm.”
Around the same time, Tucker Carlson wanted Fox News’ prime-time hosts to pressure network execs to fire reporter Jacqui Heinrich for fact-checking Trump.
“Please get her fired,” Carlson messaged Sean Hannity. “Seriously… What the f*ck?”
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America,
ANALYSIS – In his Twitter Spaces debut Tuesday night, called “Tucker on Twitter,” former Fox News host Tucker Carlson immediately accused Ukraine of being responsible for the catastrophic attack on the Nova Kakhovka dam in Southern Ukraine.
And he may be right.
Ukraine and Russia have routinely accused each other of shelling the dam, the hydroelectric station and the nearby Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
Both sides have blamed the other for the attack, in what appears to be a war crime. Kyiv blamed Moscow for the “terrorist attack,” but the Kremlin claimed that Ukraine had struck the dam to impact Russian-controlled Crimea’s water supplies.
And, despite his spotty track record on speculation, in this case, he may be right. Or at least, the assumption that Russia is always the culprit is no longer valid.
Based on recent reporting, which I wrote about here, Ukraine may, in fact, have been responsible for the serious sabotage of the Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines in September 2022, which was long blamed on Russia.
This makes the always-blame Russia crowd look less credible. But that doesn’t mean Tucker’s always-blame-everyone-except-Russia approach is any better.
While on Fox, Tucker repeatedly blamed the United States and Joe Biden for being behind the Nord Stream attack.
On Feb. 24 he said: “So the Biden administration committed the single largest most profound act of industrial terrorism of sabotaging history. They blew up the Nord Stream pipeline …”
Thus, as far as we can tell, Biden knew about it beforehand but was unwilling or unable to do anything about it.
Tucker’s claims aren’t helped when he spouts pro-Russian talking points in his video, such as:
The Kakhovka dam was effectively Russian. It was built by the Russian government. It currently sits in Russian- controlled territory. The dam’s reservoir supplies water to Crimea, which has been for the last 240 years home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Firstly, the ‘Soviets’ built the dam during the USSR, not the ‘Russians,’ and the USSR no longer exists. Secondly, it doesn’t matter how long Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was based in Crimea; it belongs to Ukraine because that’s what happened when the USSR dissolved in 1991 and Ukraine became independent.
Tucker’s Trumpian personal insults, like describing Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a “sweaty and rat-like comedian-turned-oligarch,” probably don’t help his credibility much either.
Tucker is on firmer ground when he argues that: “Blowing up the dam may be bad for Ukraine, but it hurts Russia more, and for precisely that reason, the Ukrainian government has considered destroying it.”
Especially when he cites a December report from The Washington Post in which a Ukrainian general spoke of using U.S.-made HIMARS launchers to “test strike” on the Kakhovka dam.
So, what are the facts?
The dam spanning the Dnipro River was breached on Tuesday, flooding swaths of territory and threatening crucial water supplies to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
At least 42,000 people and 1,500 square miles of land are at risk from the flooding caused by the destruction of the dam, likely slowing any potential Ukrainian military advance in the Dnipro River delta.
Much of the Dnipro River delta will become inaccessible for land operations, raising suspicions that Russia deliberately sabotaged the dam to prevent an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
However, the flooding has disproportionately affected the Russian-occupied side of the river.
The Kakhovka reservoir does supply Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast and the Crimea peninsula with fresh water.
Zelensky has said that the only way to destroy the dam is through mining and explosives and emphasized that Russian forces have now occupied the dam for over a year.
In a statement, Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command said, “Russian occupation troops blew up the dam” at Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region.
Blaming “Russian terrorists” for the attack, Zelensky said on Twitter that “the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land.”
In the end, Tucker may be right. Ukraine could have been behind the attack.
But he is far more credible when he is less bombastic and emphatic with his theories. Such as when he states:
So really, once the facts start coming in, it becomes much less of a mystery what might have happened to the dam, and a fair person would conclude that the Ukrainians probably blew it up, just as you would assume they blew up Nord Stream, the Russian natural gas pipeline last fall.
Tucker ended his new Twitter show by promising to be back with “much more, very soon.” I’m looking forward to it.
Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.
Lawmakers are metaphorically shouting their support for Donald Trump from the rooftops.
On Thursday, popular Florida Rep. Byron Donalds announced he’s endorsing the former President’s most recent campaign for the White House.
In a statement circulated by the pro-Trump Make America Great Again PAC, Donalds said Trump is the “one leader” who can get the U.S. “back on track.”
“There is only one leader at this time in our nation’s history who can seize the moment and deliver what we need – to get us back on track, provide strength and resolve, and Make America Great Again. That is why I’m honored to endorse President Donald J. Trump for President in 2024, and I ask my fellow Americans to join me,” Donalds said.
Trump has secured support from two other Florida Republicans: Rep. Matt Gaetz, a close congressional ally, and freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.
Donalds withheld support from Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for some of this year’s protracted Speakership election, opting against voting for him on nine out of 15 ballots. Donalds himself was nominated for the top job on several ballots, accumulating votes from a number of his colleagues. McCarthy ultimately won the gavel on the 15th ballot.
Before the Speakership battle, Donalds challenged Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for the post of House Republican Conference Chair, which the New Yorker won in a closed-door vote.
In the end, former President Donald Trump spoke to the court from the defense table in his civil fraud trial.
Trump’s remarks came during closing arguments, which remain ongoing.
“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 maintained, echoing remarks he has previously made in public.
Trump spoke for approximately five minutes before accusing Judge Arthur Engoron of having his own agenda.
“I certainly understand that,” the GOP front-runner persisted. “You can’t listen for more than one minute.”
At that point, Engoron told one of Trump’s lawyers to “control your client.” The judge eventually cut Trump off.
Engoron ruled on Wednesday that he wouldn’t allow Trump to speak during his attorneys’ closing arguments because he wouldn’t agree to avoid personal attacks.
NBC News further reports on the unprecedented courtroom display:
Speaking from the table sitting next to his lawyers, Trump spoke to denying all wrongdoing while Engoron quietly listened.
Trump maintained that banks “got all their money back” and “they weren’t defrauded” while repeating his call to receive damages “for what we’ve gone through.”
The former president accused James’ office of not providing one document proving her allegations of inflating his financial statements and argued that the case presents a “situation where I”m an innocent man.”
“The legal scholars looking at this case find it disgraceful,” he said, adding “this is a fraud on me.”
James is asking Engoron to fine Trump and his co-defendants over $370 million and impose a lifetime ban on Trump and two former company executives from the New York real estate industry.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
