Trump’s fraud trial judge fires back at defence attorneys: ‘That whole approach is getting old’

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial is imminently expected to issue a final judgment in a sprawling civil case that could seriously damage the former president’s family business and brand-building real estate empire.

That is, if he can figure out if one of Mr Trump’s co-defendants lied in his courtroom.

Judge Arthur Engoron is pushing Trump lawyers, the state attorney general’s office and the Manhattan district attorney for “anything” they can tell him about former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg reportedly negotiating a plea deal with New York City prosecutors for his testimony in the civil fraud trial.

If Weisselberg is now “admitting he lied under oath in my courtroom at this trial,” the judge wants to know about, he wrote to attorneys last week. “I do not want to ignore anything in a case of this magnitude,” he said, according to court documents.

Lawyers for Mr Trump’s adult sons and co-defendants called the request “unprecedented, inappropriate and troubling.”

Alina Habba – who represents Weisselberg in the civil case but is not his criminal defence lawyer – also declined to provide the judge with any information about his plea negotiations and said no further action was needed.

An article in The New York Times that reported Weisselberg’s plea negotiations is “neither admissible nor reliable, and it should not be considered in Your Honor’s determination as to the merits of this case,” she wrote, according to court documents. “We urge you to render your decision based solely on the evidence now before you.”

In a separate statement, Mr Trump’s attorney Chris Kise said that “court decisions are supposed to be made based on the evidence at trial, not on media speculation.”

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