Trump makes wild claim about what happened in court on first day of civil fraud trial

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Donald Trump appeared to attempt to declare victory after just one day of his civil trial into his business empire despite having been found liable for fraud.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, Mr Trump lashed out at New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“Now that it has been agreed in Court that Mar-a-Lago is WORTH 50 to 100 times the Value the Racist & Incompetent Attorney General of New York State, Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James, ascribed to it (18 Million Dollars), & likewise other assets that were valued crazily low by this ‘Monster’ that has allowed Violent Crime in New York to reach EPIDEMIC levels, and dangerous illegal migrants to roam free all over our State, we hope the Judge will TERMINATE his first ruling of fraud in that he was given false and ridiculous information by the Trump Deranged Lunatic, A.G. James,” Mr Trump wrote.

“In actuality, I am WORTH FAR MORE than the numbers put down on the Financial Statements, not less,” the former president added. “In addition, there is a far reaching and professionally drawn Disclaimer Clause boldly stated on the FIRST PAGE OF THE DOCUMENT. This entire case should be thrown out and dismissed. The A.G. should be reprimanded and sanctioned for bringing this case with its FAKE LOW VALUES, in order to make me look bad. Election Interference!”

The fraud trial against Mr Trump is expected to end just three days before Christmas.

The prosecutors from the office of Ms James are arguing that Mr Trump, his adult sons, as well as some of his top associates defrauded banks and insurers when they overvalued their properties, such as Mar-a-Lago, by billions of dollars in total in order to fraudulently get benefits that they wouldn’t otherwise receive.

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found last week that no trial was needed to determine if Mr Trump’s financial statements were fraudulent, leading to the current bench trial, meaning that there’s no jury. The trial will look into six other assertions from the attorneys in Ms James’s office. The judge has said that neither party requested a jury trial.

The unsolved counts in the lawsuit brought by Ms James allege that Mr Trump and his fellow defendants unlawfully falsified business records and conspired to do so. The lawsuit also lays out allegations of them having issued false financial statements and committed conspiracy to issue them, insurance fraud, as well as conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Despite forcefully claiming that he’s a multi-billionaire, Mr Trump still felt the need to fundraise off the fraud trial.

The Trump campaign sent out a fundraising email to supporters with the subject line “I just left the courthouse” about 20 minutes after the court was dismissed.

“Politicians, drunk with power, are weaponizing the legal system to try and completely destroy me — and, ultimately, imprison me for the rest of my life as an innocent man. And why do they want to stop me so bad?” the email stated.

“Because they know that I’m on the verge of winning the 2024 election in a landslide and upon taking office, will take away their power and return it to YOU, the American people,” the campaign added. “So, let me say for the millionth time that NOTHING can break me.”