Gov. Kathy Hochul’s people vehemently deny charges that she’s abusing her power over New York’s courts to blackmail President Trump, but then what is behind the stall of his appeal of the insane civil fraud verdict against him?
It’s been more than half a year since New York’s Appellate Division, First Department, heard Trump’s appeal, and even that September hearing was six months after the initial conviction.
This molasses-slow process follows the junk justice of state Attorney General Tish James’ initial persecution in Judge Arthur Engoron’s kangaroo courtroom.
To rewind the tape: Back in 2020, James massively stretched consumer protection law to gin up a case surrounding the Trump Organization’s dealing years earlier with Deutsche Bank, alleging that optimistic valuations of Trump properties somehow deceived the bankers into giving Trump overly generous loan terms.
The ensuing investigation and trial made it plain that nobody was harmed — indeed, everyone on the non-Trump side of the table made money.
But that didn’t stop Engoron from issuing a host of dubious rulings, culminating in a finding of guilt and a preposterous $454 million penalty (including interest) in February 2024, a number that continues to grow each day it goes unpaid.
And when a five-judge panel of the First Department heard the case in September, Justice Peter Moulton put it bluntly: “The immense penalty in this case is troubling,” because “the parties left these transactions happy.”
Justice David Friedman pointed out, “No one lost any money,” and consumer protection statutes don’t normally apply to “really sophisticated players” like one of the world’s largest banks.
It seems pretty obvious that Engoron’s penalties and verdict, indeed the entire case, should be tossed.
We have no independent sources to prove or disprove White House aides’ claims that Hochul told Trump, “I control the judges” in some veiled hint that he needed to back off on upending her “congestion” tolls, but something odd is going on here.
If it’s not the gov, perhaps First Department Presiding Justice Dianne Renwick (and/or others on the court) are holding off on dropping their verdict until, say, the Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend, so it can pass unnoticed — giving AG James a chance to exit without eating much crow.
(Of course, the AG could then appeal to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court — and even have some hope of winning, since progressives have spent the last decade muscling governors into packing it, but also at the risk of even greater embarrassment.)
Whatever’s behind the stall, the public has a strong interest in getting this settled, once and for all.
James and Engeron pretend the ludicrous fines against Trump are necessary to intimidate other would-be evildoers from repeating the same “crime” (that didn’t hurt anyone).
More credibly, other New York businesses need to know they can’t be sued into oblivion by partisan politicians wielding huge prosecutorial powers and finding amenable judges to play along.
Plus: Stalling this case is in itself a victory for James and her fellow court kangaroos.
Meanwhile, the nominal judgment against the sitting president (and his two oldest sons) keeps climbing every day that it goes unpaid and is now north of $500 million.
The court can make some excuse for its delays so far, citing the presidential election, transition and so on, but this stall is now starting to reek.
The Appellate Division needs to do its job and rule; on the merits, it should be a reversal.
Shut down the left-leaning lawfare, and make it plain that in this country, we fight political battles at the ballot box, not in the courts.