Judge says Donald Trump won’t give own closing argument at civil fraud trial after disputing rules

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump won’t make his own closing argument after all in his New York civil business fraud trial after his lawyers objected to the judge’s insistence that the former president stick to “relevant” matters and “not deliver a campaign speech.”

Judge Arthur Engoron nixed Trump’s unusual plan on Wednesday, a day ahead of closing arguments.

The judge had initially indicated he was open to the idea, saying he’d let Trump speak if he agreed to abide by rules that apply to attorneys’ closing arguments. Among other things, Engoron wanted the former president and current Republican front-runner to promise he wouldn’t assail his adversaries in the case, the judge or others in the court system.

Trump’s legal team said those limitations unfairly muzzled him. They didn’t agree to the terms by the judge’s Wednesday deadline.

“Is anyone surprised anymore?” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement after Engoron wrote that he assumed Trump was not agreeing to the restrictions and therefore would not be speaking.

The trial could cost Trump hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and strip him of his ability to do business in New York. He’s fighting allegations that his net worth was inflated by billions of dollars on financial statements that helped him secure business loans and insurance.

The former president denies any wrongdoing, and he has lambasted the case as a “hoax” and a political attack on him. The judge is a Democrat, as is New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit.

The trial came after Engoron decided, in a pretrial ruling, that Trump had engaged in fraud for years. The judge ordered at that point that a receiver take control of some of the ex-president’s properties, but an