Trump refuses conditions for fraud trial closing argument, won't be allowed to speak

• Donald Trump will not be allowed to personally make a closing argument at his New York civil fraud trial on Thursday, a judge said in a new letter.
• Judge Arthur Engoron told Trump's lawyer Chris Kise in a letter Wednesday that because he had not heard back from Kise agreeing to terms the judge imposed on Trump for such an argument, Engoron assumed Trump would not comply with those conditions.
• Closing arguments in the case are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Donald Trump has been barred from personally making a closing argument at his New York civil fraud trial on Thursday because he would not agree to limitations on what he could say, a judge told the former president's lawyer in a new letter.

Judge Arthur Engoron told Trump's lawyer Chris Kise on Wednesday that because he had not heard back from Kise agreeing to terms the judge imposed on Trump, Engoron assumed Trump would not comply. Engoron also rejected a bid by Trump to postpone closing arguments by nearly three weeks because Trump's mother-in-law died Tuesday.

Engoron's order came after a contentious series of emails between him and Kise over Trump's highly unusual plan to give some of the defense's closing arguments Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The judge had set a series of limitations on what Trump would be allowed to say, but Kise in several emails resisted those conditions after being given several extensions of a deadline to make a decision.

Engoron said Trump would be allowed to speak only about "material facts that are in evidence, and application of the relevant law to those facts," just as lawyers are likewise restrained.

The judge had said he would not allow Trump to make "a campaign" speech, or to attack the