(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
While Donald Trump is busy on Truth Social calling Justice Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James “Stalinists,” his lawyers are crafting their appeal of last week’s $355 million civil fraud verdict. ALLEGEDLY.
On what grounds will they be appealing?
“What aren’t my grounds on appeal is a better question,” Trump’s sparklemagic lawyer Alina Habba quipped to Newmax’s Rob Finnerty earlier this week, adding that the ruling was “insane, but the insanity makes it easy to appeal.”
“I understand it was the intent of the Democrat-funded AG to try and put Trump out of business, it’s just not gonna happen. And that’s probably devastating to her,” Habba went on.
She repeated the vow to frustrate the AG’s wicked plot to Fox’s Martha MacCallum.
“Her goal is frankly not going to succeed,” Habba snarked.
MacCallum mistakenly suggested that posting a bond was a prerequisite to an appeal, rather than a means of staving off collections, and wondered where Trump might come up with close to half a billion dollars, including pre-judgment interest.
“You can post a bond, which is an option. You can tell the judge that you should set aside the verdict because it’s insane, which this is,” Habba went on, still refusing to specify exactly what grounds her client might have for reversing the ruling.
“I will never show my cards, Martha, you know I’m too good to do that,” she mugged.
Ummm … OKAY.
In the event, telling the judge to set aside the verdict because it’s “insane,” proved to be an ineffective strategy.
“The Attorney General has now taken it upon herself to submit a proposed judgment to the Clerk of the Court without notice to the Defendants and without conferring with Defendants’ counsel, clearly hoping that the Clerk will issue the Proposed Judgment before Defendants even have a chance to review it, let alone submit a proposed counter-judgment,” Trump’s lawyer Cliff Robert shrieked in a letter to the court on Wednesday protesting the AG’s request to enter the judgment as per the court’s verdict and demanding “sufficient time to submit a proposed counter-judgment.”
Noting that the language of the proposed judgment “exactly tracks” his own order, Justice Engoron invited the defendants to “let me know, by 5pm today, if you object in any specific ways, and how your counter-judgment would differ.”
“Given the foregoing, I see no need for a motion or conference on this,” he added.
Robert responded by blathering about the lack of exigency, since ret. Judge Barbara Jones remains in place as monitor of the Trump Organization, ensuring that fraud levels remain at a minimum.
But the court was not persuaded.
“You have failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay. I am confident that the Appellate Division will protect your appellate rights,” the court wrote yesterday before signing the judgment.
Meanwhile, the AG is vowing to collect immediately.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” she told ABC News.
Surely Alina Habba is about to bust out her one million grounds for appeal any second now, wowing the First Department into putting a stop to this partisan witch hut. Or maybe she’ll just keep shouting “INSANE!” on rightwing media as the State of New York puts a lien on 40 Wall Street.
Who is it who said it’s better to be pretty than smart because smart can be faked?
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.
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