MANHATTAN (CN) — A New York judge on Thursday sent a scathing email to one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, chiding him for questioning the court’s objectivity in the former president’s civil fraud suit.
“You and your co-counsel have been questioning my impartiality since the early days of this case, presumably because I sometimes rule against your clients,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote to Trump lawyer Clifford Robert. “The whole approach is getting old.”
The exchange stemmed from a Monday email from Engoron, in which the judge demanded answers from counsel amid rumors that Allen Weisselberg — one of Trump’s co-defendants in the case — was negotiating a plea deal for lying in his courtroom.
In his Wednesday response to the court, Robert berated the judge for his “unprecedented, inappropriate and troubling” request that “calls into question the impartiality of the court.”
Robert’s combative reply was more than Engoron had wanted.
“When I sent my straightforward, narrow request for information about possible perjury by Allen Weisselberg in the subject case, I was not seeking to initiate a wide-ranging debate with counsel,” Engoron wrote Thursday. “However, your misleading response grossly mischaracterizes the letter that I wrote, and I feel compelled to respond.”
In his original email, Engoron cited a story from The New York Times, which broke the news that Weisselberg was potentially negotiating a plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors for perjuring himself during his October testimony in the civil fraud trial.
Weisselberg claimed on the stand that he “never focused” on the size of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse — which Trump had reported on financial paperwork to be about three times as big as it actually was. In reality, Weisselberg was reportedly instrumental in pushing its phony size to reporters.
Should Weisselberg admit to perjury, the judge said he might be forced to toss the entire testimony. Robert criticized the court for entertaining the “unsubstantiated news reports in rendering its decision.” Engoron refuted that premise.
“I have not taken, do not plan to take, and did not suggest or hint that I would take judicial notice of the subject New York Times article or the contents thereof,” Engoron wrote. “Similarly, I have not taken, do not plan to take, and did not suggest or hint that I would take the Times article into consideration in my findings of fact.”
Engoron added that he was merely asking for any relevant information regarding Weisselberg’s perjury rumors, as he expected to issue a decision on the fraud case as early as this week.
“If, tomorrow, Mr. Weisselberg publicly confesses to having committed perjury about a significant matter in the case before me, or if he pleads guilty to such perjury at any time before I issue my final decision, I will research and consider what the law allows,” Engoron said.
The judge had previously hoped to issue a ruling by the end of January. Already delayed, the saga surrounding Weisselberg’s possible plea deal has further complicated the process.
The New York Attorney General’s Office, which brought the fraud case against Trump and his co-defendants in 2022, hopes that the antics don’t delay Engoron’s ruling any further. In his own Wednesday response, state lawyer Kevin Wallace found it “hardly surprising” that Weisselberg may have “perjured himself in this preceding.”
“If true, he should be held to account fully for his actions,” Wallace wrote. “But it should not delay a final decision and judgment imposing remedial measures in this law enforcement proceeding.”
Wallace added that further delaying a ruling would only serve to benefit Trump, Weisselberg and the other defendants facing potentially steep punishments.
“Defendants would have been able to delay their final judgment — including on a cause of action decided on summary judgment — by relying on perjured testimony,” Wallace wrote.
Engoron’s most recent letter didn’t indicate whether he’d be pushing back his decision any further. This month, a spokesperson for the court indicated that the ruling is slated for “early to mid-February, as a rough estimate.”
In her 2022 complaint, New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Trump and his co-defendants of fraudulently inflating assets on statements of financial condition to short banks and insurers in various business transactions. Before the bench trial began, Engoron found Trump liable for the case’s top fraud count.
Engoron’s impending ruling will determine damages and the remaining counts in the complaint. James seeks more than $300 million in disgorgement penalties from the defendants. Trump and Weisselberg could face lifetime bans in the New York real estate industry, while Trump’s adult sons Eric and Donald Jr. could face five-year suspensions.
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