MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump on Friday lost his bid to pause the civil fraud trial against him in Manhattan, hours after the former president filed the motion as part of his appeal of Judge Arthur Engoron’s summary judgment against him.
However, while the appeal continues, New York's appellate court put a stop to the part of Engoron's late September ruling that stripped Trump and his co-defendants of their New York business certifications, after the judge found Trump overinflated his assets to get more favorable bank loans and insurance terms.
For now, Trump's New York businesses won't be dissolved. It's a rare win for the former president in the trial's opening week, which saw him slapped with a gag order for harassing the judge's staff and reprimanded for interrupting the proceedings with his tardiness.
Still, his Friday request was "denied in all other respects," Associate Appeallate Judge Peter H. Moulton wrote in his ruling.
In Friday’s lengthy appeal filing, Trump claimed the judge's decision will “inflict severe and irreparable harm” to the “innocent nonparties and employees” that work at the affected businesses.
“Terminating non-party business licenses without jurisdiction, without process, without statutory authority, without trial, and without reason renders impossible the lawful operation of multiple businesses and threatens termination of hundreds of New York employees without any jurisdiction or due process,” the motion says.
Trump’s team added that Engoron “clearly does not comprehend the scope of the chaos its decision has wrought.”
“When questioned about the outcome he envisioned, Justice Engoron would not even clarify which entities the… decision covered or define the scope of its impact,” the motion says.
Trump wants to keep his business certifications while an appellate court rules on his appeal of the decision, which in addition to Trump deemed his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the Trump Organization and its former CFO Allen Weisselberg all liable for fraud on the top count.
New York Attorney General Letitia James' office, which brought the case against Trump and his co-defendants in September 2022, has indicated it’s willing to play ball with Trump’s legal team when it comes to discussing Engoron’s order. However, it is not willing to delay the trial.
“In their current application for an interim stay, defendants seek to sow chaos by disrupting an ongoing trial that has now been going for a week,” the office wrote in a letter Friday. “Yet defendants fail to point to any purported irreparable harm from proceeding with a trial that has already begun.”
James' office said it “has already offered to discuss” Engoron’s ruling with the defendants, but that upending trial would “severely undermine the fair and orderly administration of justice.”
Trump made a previous request to delay proceedings, the letter notes, which was denied.
“Defendants are now rehashing the same arguments that this court already rejected,” the letter says. “But defendants are not entitled to a second bite at the apple, and this court’s prior decision denying a stay of trial should end the matter.”
If Trump’s interim relief request is granted, the Manhattan bench trial would temporarily be paused until an appeals court reviews Engoron’s order.
Trump has repeatedly complained that his case is before a judge, not a jury, despite his legal team never asking for a jury trial.
Friday’s application is the latest effort from Trump’s camp to delay the trial’s proceedings.
Trump pulled a longshot lawsuit against Engoron late Thursday night in another effort to freeze the case.
Filed last month against Engoron and James, who brought the case against Trump and his co-defendants in September 2022, the suit was widely seen as a Hail Mary attempt for the former president to stall proceedings and get Engoron thrown off the case.
The legal challenge could have placed Trump’s lawyers in the position to argue a faux agenda against him, The Daily Beast reported, since both Engoron and James would have been listed as defendants in the former president’s new suit.
Thursday marked somewhat of a reset for Trump’s legal attacks; he also withdrew a $500 million lawsuit against his former lawyer Michael Cohen, which he filed in federal court in South Florida.
Trump had accused Cohen of breaking attorney-client privilege by “disparaging” him in public statements, podcasts and media appearances.
Cohen is also expected to testify during the civil fraud trial. He could be called as early as next week. He is also a key witness in Trump’s criminal hush money criminal case, set for trial next year.
Trump attended the first three days of his Manhattan fraud trial, but left New York on Wednesday during the testimony of his former accountant Donald Bender.
Former Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney took the stand on Thursday and Friday. He admitted to helping Weisselberg commit tax fraud while working under him.
Weisselberg is set to begin his testimony on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to tax charges in August 2022, and served around three months in prison before his release in April.
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