Donald Trump arrived in court Monday morning as bellicose as ever, accusing Attorney General Letitia James of being a racist, and of being biased and corrupt. “We have a racist attorney general who is a horror show, who ran on the basis that she’s going to get Trump before she knew anything about me,” he raged.
This was just part of his vituperative comments outside the courtroom to the press, although his words echoed across the chamber where Judge Arthur Engoron waited to adjudicate the fraud case against him. Engoron was not immune to Trump’s charges: Trump called him a “rogue” adjudicator.
“It’s a scam,” Trump bellowed. “It’s a sham. Just so you know, my financial statements are phenomenal. There is no crime, the crime was against me.”
Given this overture, the case portends to be a highly volatile affair, although for the most part, it’s a done deal and merely a matter of how much he will have to pay for his years of fraudulent reports about overvaluing his property. In short, it’s a bench trial to determine the extent of the damages.
It was not clear what Trump said at the end of his appearance at this civil trial when he passed near James, who was sitting in the front row of the court. According to one reporter, he just glanced down at her. Trump’s son Eric, however, reached out to shake her hand, and they exchanged words.
In effect, this is the first shot across the bow. Trump faces 40 felony charges in the classified documents case, and the most serious charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
There was good news and bad news for Trump from the Supreme Court this week. On Monday, the court turned down a case that challenged his eligibility to run for the White House in 2024. The case was brought by presidential candidate John Anthony Castro, a tax consultant, who argued the 14th Amendment disqualified Trump from seeking the presidency because of his alleged role in the January 6 insurrection, but Trump was not indicted on charges related to that uprising.
On the other hand, the court rejected an appeal by John Eastman, a conservative lawyer, who attempted to shield his emails from congressional investigators pertaining to the results of the 2020 election, not the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Eastman is one of the 19 indicted, along with Trump, for allegedly interfering in Georgia’s election to overturn the results in Trump’s favor. Justice Clarence Thomas recused himself from the ruling because Eastman was his former law clerk.