‘I spoke to an executive at Zurich. They said, “You didn’t defraud us,”’ he said. ‘There wasn’t one witness against us.’
Former President Donald Trump was allowed five minutes to make his own case in the courtroom at the conclusion of his New York civil fraud trial on Jan. 11, after the presiding judge set limits and conditions on any speech the former president might give in court.
“Your honor, the financial statements were perfect,” President Trump said. “The banks got all their money back, the banks are happy as can be.
“I spoke to an executive at Zurich. They said, ‘You didn’t defraud us.’ There wasn’t one witness against us.”
He again described the case as a “political witch hunt” and said he should be the one receiving damages “for what they’ve taken this company through.”
“We have millions of pages of documents, they have nothing,” he said. “I’m an innocent man, I’ve been persecuted by somebody running for office. The legal scholars talking about this case, they find it disgraceful.”
He described the novel use of the consumer fraud statutes against him as “vicious.”
“What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me. And you know what happens, companies leave,” he said.
“I’ve done a lot of great things, I’ve built buildings all over the city, I’ve never had a problem.”
President Trump then accused New York Attorney General Letitia James of election interference, leading state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron to ask defense attorney Chris Kise to “control” his client.
“Without all that, your honor, all these days and months and years and millions and millions of pages, they found nothing,” President Trump said. “And now they come in and she says I want a $250 million fine, now $370 million.”
President Trump wrapped up his statement shortly after, saying he should have been granted a directed verdict in his favor.
“Your honor, I did nothing wrong. They should pay me for what I’ve had to go through,” he said.
The trial began on Oct. 2, 2023, and has lasted 44 days. Justice Engoron said the earliest he would issue judgment is the end of this month.
Defense attorneys are expecting to appeal any ruling by Justice Engoron, pointing to the fact that he found President Trump liable for fraud in a Sept. 26, 2023, summary judgment, before the defense had even made its case during trial.
By Catherine Yang and Michael Washburn
