Victor Davis Hanson
About six weeks after the Mar-a-Lago raid, it was the turn of the New York Attorney General Letitia James to continue the lawfare.
On September 21, she filed a civil suit against Trump, his corporation, some of his employees, and even members of his family—which was designed to bankrupt and neuter the still undeclared Republican but front-running Republican nominee.
James alleged a variety of crimes committed by Trump, his employees, his children, and his companies. But chief among them, and the most publicized, she weirdly claimed that these parties had variously “submitted blatantly false financial data” to “borrow more and at lower rates.” The public then naturally expected to follow proof of massive loan defaults and bank losses. But no such evidence ever emerged.
No matter: James asserted that Trump made over “200 false and misleading valuations of assets on his annual Statements of Financial Condition to defraud financial institutions.” James then further claimed in particular that Trump saved millions in lower interest rates from the Deutsch Bank by assuring them of collateral that was nonexistent.
A year later a leftwing and celebrity-struck judge Arthur Engoron agreed and ruled in favor of James, fining Trump an astronomical $454 million (eventually on appeal reduced to $354.8 million), supposedly to pay back the state for Trump’s supposedly ill-gotten gains.
The fine shocked the nation and certainly violated the Eighth Amendment. And no New York corporation had ever been fined such a huge fee for paying back a loan, both principal and interest, on time, and to the complete satisfaction and profit of the lending agency.
James’s lawsuit would only accelerate the nascent rebound of Trump since the James case was seen as even more outrageous than the Mar-a-Lago raid.
Why?
- James brazenly campaigned for state Attorney General on promises to destroy Trump, and was unapologetically biased, as videos of her rants proved.
- No New York corporation had ever been charged for overvaluing assets to obtain a loan that was paid in full and to the complete satisfaction of the lender.
- Outside observers who looked at Trump’s real estate assets, especially the priceless Mar-a-Lago estate, believe his properties were not overvalued but likely undervalued.
- The initial $454 million fine (again, later reduced) was so unusual, so clearly unjustified, and so intended to destroy candidate Trump that it incurred public outrage.
- Judge Engoron proved a buffoonish ham. He transparently played the stereotypical role of a New York leftist Trump hater and was soon accused of misconduct for improperly discussing the case with a non-court-appointed real estate expert, just three weeks before he issued his outrageous $454 million penalty ruling.
- As James blabbed to the media, the biased Engoron slapped a gag order on candidate Trump, forbidding him to comment on the case—at a time when James herself had bragged of her intention to get Trump.
- Engoron fined Trump for disparaging his court, again at a time he made little effort to hide his own biases.
James’s vendetta closely followed the Mar-a-Lago raid and was simultaneous with other lawfare indictments. But the fine and James’s own overt bias were so brazen, that the image of a former president hounded by state and federal governments was now permanently embedded in the mind of the public. Soon after, on November 24, 2022, E. Jean Carroll sued Trump for an alleged sexual assault about which she did not know the date roughly some 20 years earlier—apparently timed to follow closely upon Trump’s November 15, 2022, announcement of his candidacy.
To proceed, Carroll was bankrolled by a Trump-hating, Biden mega-donor from Silicon Valley, Reid Hoffman. She needed a special law mysteriously earlier passed by the New York legislature to waive the statute of limitations on sexual assault. Carroll would also rely on a biased, liberal New York Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan, who would improperly claim Trump “raped” Carrol, even though a jury did not find him guilty of rape per se.
Soon Alvin Bragg, Jack Smith, and Fani Willis would pile on with their Moby Dick-like obsessions, Trump playing the proverbial white whale target.
When these prejudicial prosecutors, judges, media, and Bidenites were finished, they ensured Donald Trump would win the presidency. (Next: the Palestine Ohio visit).
Discussion (5)
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This case is awful, but I honestly hate the E. Jean Carroll case more. I am a rape survivor who gave a speech at our local schoolboard in June after Biden bastardized title 9. My main point was that because I grew up in the 1970s, I never reported my rape because the culture at that time was to shame the victim by asking about ward robes and attitudes - I now have a granddaughter who will be afraid to report rape because she will get in trouble for making the 6'4" bearded man in her elementary school bathroom feel bad. Through the years, I've seen lots of women falsely accuse men of rape but I always give them the benefit of doubt right up until they prove they are lying. When E Jean went on Maddow and celebrated the financial win, I looked at my hubby and said," She's lying. Rape nctims celebrate justice - not money." she never said justice. Women like her make people not believe the real victims.
Why hasn't the New York Bar disciplined James and Engoron? Are there no authentic courts of law in the state of New York where Donald Trump can receive justice? How did New York become such a dysfunctional cess pool? If a billionaire with access to the best legal counsel can be stripped of his assets and summarily railroaded, then surely as the sun rises so can you and I.
Possibly even sadder and more outrageous than the pain, aggravation and cost endured by Trump is the likelihood the antagonists will probably get away with their law fare. In their social and political circles they will be praised and honored. The results, even if eventually overturned, will be used continuously by the media and liberal politicians. This is the REAL internal enemy.
“ But the fine and James’s own overt bias were so brazen, that the image of a former president hounded by state and federal governments was now permanently embedded in the mind of the public. ” This nails it. We were shocked to the core by this brazen lawfare and knew the biased judicial and legal systems would come after all who dared question them. We had also seen the two-tier legal system go after the J-6 folks while excusing Democrats. Republicans in Congress and trusted pundits seemed indifferent to this, almost as if anything that rid them of Trump was OK. They ensured we would see Trump as the only path to follow. Then they couldn’t hide their condescension towards those who continued to support Trump.
Thanks Victor for an unfortunate summary of the democracy destroying attempts by totally pathetic individuals. It’s nice to see them so clearly, logically and sequentially laid out for us. So much easier to loathe these anti-American evildoers!