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05-10-2023
NEW YORK: The four-time indicted former US President Donald Trump attended Tuesday his fraud case trial on the second day in New York court reiterating his claim that he is under the target of a political witch hunt, weeks after he was found liable in financial malpractices.
The criminally charged former commander-in-chief, who is grappling with a number of cases, attacked the legal system of the US and called the trials against him a scam and fraudulent.
Donald Trump also lashed out Tuesday at New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the case against him, calling her “very corrupt” and “grossly incompetent,” before entering the chamber where he could eventually be barred from doing business in the state.
The 77-year-old has previously denounced the case as a “sham” intended to torpedo his bid to recapture the White House next year and Monday called James, who is African American, “racist.”
The clear frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary was not required to attend the first two days in court but chose to do so, taking a seat at the defence table flanked by his lawyers.
In the courtroom were his two sons Don Jr and Eric, who are also on trial before New York Judge Arthur Engoron, whom Trump has called “deranged.”
On Tuesday the Republican watched the proceedings, which are in a technical phase, often scowling or looking on wearily.
Before the trial convened for its afternoon session, Engoron reprimanded Donald Trump for an insulting social media post about a court clerk and verbally issued a gag order for all parties to not comment on his staff. Trump’s post has since been removed.
Trump declined to appear in person at an earlier civil case this year, in which he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming an American former magazine columnist, E Jean Carroll and ordered to pay her $5 million in damages.
This time, he is not letting the opportunity to publicly frame himself as a victim slip by.
The move comes as Trump faces criminal charges in four different cases, with trials set to take place in 2024 some in the middle of the Republican Party primaries. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
