OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has vowed to appeal the decision in his New York civil fraud case that saddled him with a massive fine.
Trump had harsh words for the New York Attorney general Letitia James who brought the case against his business and for Judge Arthur Engoron who hit him with the more than $360 million fine when he spoke at Mar-A-Lago after the verdict.
“I will get Trump. Everybody has seen it, Letitia James. They have all seen it. Well, we will be appealing. But, more important than that, this is Russia. This is China. This is the same game, all comes out of the DOJ. It all comes out of Biden. It’s a witch-hunt against his political opponent, the likes of which our country has never seen before. You see it in third-world countries, banana republics, but you don’t see it here,” the former president said.
“So I just want to say this. You build a great company. There was no fraud. The banks all got their money. 100 percent. They love Trump. They testified that Trump is great. Great customer. One of our best customers. They testified beautifully. And the judge knows that. He is just a corrupt person. And we knew that from the beginning. We knew it right from the beginning because he wouldn’t give it to the commercial division. This judge thought Mar-a-lago is worth $18 million. And it’s worth anywhere from 50 to 100 times that amount. So we realized that. He ruled against me before he even got the case. He ruled against me. He said I was guilty. He didn’t know what I was guilty of before he even got the case,” said Trump.
“Letitia James, that’s another case altogether. She is a horribly corrupt attorney general, and it’s all having to do with election interference. There were no victims because the banks made a lot of money. They made $100 million. And by the way, I paid approximately $300 million in taxes as the migrants come in and they take over New York, I paid over this period of years over $300 million in taxes. And they want me out. Let’s see if we can get him out. These are radical left Democrats. They’re lunatics.,” the former president said.
“So I want to thank you for being here. We will appeal. We will be successful. I think because, frankly, if we’re not successful, New York State is gone. People are moving out of New York State, and because of this, they are going to move out at a much faster rate. They used the statute. It’s a consumer fraud statute that’s never been used for a thing like this before. They used it on me because I’m running for president. I’m beating Biden by a lot. We are beating not only the Republicans, we’re beating Biden by a lot,” he noted further.
“The poll came out today we are up 20 points on Biden. If I weren’t running, none of this stuff would have never happened. None of these lawsuits would have ever happened. Nothing — I would have had a nice life. But I enjoy this life for a different reason. We are going to make America great again,” Trump declared.
“These are corrupt people. These are people that shouldn’t be allowed to do the things they do. And they are using this as weaponization against a political opponent who is up a lot in the polls. And always will be because I’m competing with a man who can’t put two sentences together, who doesn’t know what he is doing. And we’re heading into a third World War because of this guy. We have to win this election. They are doing everything possible to step in the way, but we are not going to stand for it,” he said.
