MANHATTAN (CN) — Lawyers representing Donald Trump in his New York City civil fraud trial asked for a directed verdict on Tuesday, a request that has already been denied by the judge at least four times throughout the trial.
Lead Trump attorney Chris Kise made the ask while conditionally resting the defense’s case after about one month of testimony.
“We rest,” Kise began. “Also, at this time, we are moving for a directed verdict.”
Kise added that he’d be submitting a written motion by Friday, as he didn’t want to occupy more time arguing in court. Judge Arthur Engoron encouraged him to do so, but urged Kise not to get his hopes up this time around.
“There’s no way I’m going to grant that,” Engoron said. “You’d be wasting your time, but I’m not going to tell you not to send something.”
State lawyer Kevin Wallace chided Kise for the repeated requests, calling them “a waste of court resources.”
“We already had a 45-page powerpoint presentation on a directed verdict from Mr. Kise,” Wallace barked, referencing a presentation Kise made after the prosecution rested last month. “This is silly.”
Trump’s attorneys first moved for a directed verdict after Michael Cohen’s testimony in October. They tried again in November just before commencing their defense case against the attorney general’s office, which is accusing Trump of fraudulently inflating the worth of his assets on yearly financial statements.
On Tuesday, the defense lawyers wrapped up their case with more testimony from fiery expert witness Eli Bartov, a New York University accounting professor who has claimed that the attorney general’s case against Trump had “no merit.”
Bartov also claimed that Trump couldn’t have defrauded banks using his financial statements, as the banks performed their own due diligence when valuing Trump’s properties.
But on cross-examination, state lawyer Louis Solomon pressed Bartov over language in his sworn affidavit, in which Bartov claimed that Trump’s financial statements “did not impact significantly” the loan options Deutsche Bank offered Trump. Bartov also wrote that the bank’s reliance on Trump’s provided information was “marginal.”
Solomon suggested that Bartov’s use of words like “significantly” and “marginal” implied that Deutsche Bank was, at least a little bit, influenced by the figures on Trump’s financial statements.
“Maybe it was not the best word to use here,” Bartov conceded.
Tuesday’s proceedings came after an unexpected day off on Monday. Donald Trump was expected to give his highly-anticipated defense testimony that day. On Sunday, however, he unceremoniously announced that he would be skipping his court date.
“I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say other than that this is a complete & total election interference (Biden Campaign!) witch hunt, that will do nothing but keep businesses out of New York, I will not be testifying on Monday. MAGA!” Trump wrote in an all-caps Truth Social post Sunday afternoon.
Kise echoed Trump’s sentiments in a statement to Courthouse News, claiming there is nothing more for Trump to say.
“There is no valid reason for President Trump to testify further in this case,” Kise said.
The last-minute about-face from the former president was precisely what his lawyers said wouldn’t happen last week. Speaking to the press on Friday, Trump lawyer Alina Habba said she advised Trump not to take the stand due to the court’s gag order against him but added that Trump was insistent that he wanted to testify anyway.
“He will open himself up to whatever they want because he’s not afraid,” Habba told the press on Friday. “President Trump doesn’t cower. We’ll be back on Monday.”
Instead, the trial was dark on Monday. It wasn’t until Tuesday that Trump gave a reason for his change-of-heart: the very same gag order that Habba had referenced.
In another Truth Social post, Trump said that he “wanted to testify on Monday" but that the gag order is “totally taking away my constitutional right to defend myself.” In fact, the gag order merely prevents Trump from attacking members of the court’s staff.
Despite the defense conditionally resting its case on Tuesday, testimony isn’t over. The attorney general’s office started its brief rebuttal case that’s set to feature two expert witnesses: Kevin Sneddon, a real estate broker and former executive at Trump International Realty and Eric Lewis, an accounting professor at Cornell University.
Lewis will wrap up his testimony on Wednesday — likely the final day of testimony. The trial will then take a one-month recess to return on Jan. 11 for closing arguments. Engoron said he’ll hope to have a decision by the end of January.
Follow @Uebey
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
