Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is demanding that New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron recuse himself from the ex-president’s civil fraud.
Engoron ordered Trump to pay more than $450 million after the former president was found liable for committing business fraud in New York in February. Trump repeatedly denounced the judge during and after the proceedings, claiming that Engoron was “biased” and the trial was “rigged.”
In a court filing on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers argued that Engoron had not met the “standards of judicial conduct” and should remove himself from the case due to “appearance of impropriety,” citing an investigation of claims that lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey offered the judge unsolicited advice before the trial ended.
According to interviews with New York City NBC station WNBC, Bailey approached Engoron about three weeks before the Trump trial ended to tell him “what I think and why… I really want him to get it right.” Bailey also told the station that he and Engoron “never mentioned the word Donald Trump.”
New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron is pictured on the left, while former President Donald Trump is shown on the right during his civil fraud trial in New York City on January 11,…
Shannon Stapleton; Seth Wenig
A state judicial conduct investigation into the alleged interaction was reportedly launched last month, with Trump lawyers Alina Habba and Clifford Robert writing in Thursday’s filing that the investigation had resulted in a “shadow that now looms over” the “impartiality” of Engoron’s court.
“Allegations have surfaced revealing this Court may have engaged in actions fundamentally incompatible with the responsibilities attendant to donning the black robe and sitting in judgment,” the Trump lawyers wrote.
“The appearance of impropriety is manifest and mandates recusal,” they added. “The integrity of this tribunal and President Trump’s right to a fair and impartial trial, have been ineluctably imperiled. Under these circumstances, recusal is mandatory and essential to preservation of the rule of law.”
The filing goes on to propose an alternative to recusal in the form of Engorgon holding an evidentiary hearing to discuss the alleged conversation with Bailey. Habba also called for Engoron’s recusal while claiming that he is unable to “serve as a fair arbiter” on Thursday in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
“The New York Code of Judicial Conduct exists to ensure that litigants are afforded a fair and impartial trial,” Habba wrote. “Justice Engoron’s communications with Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey regarding the merits of this case, however, directly violate that code and demonstrate that Judge Engoron cannot serve as a fair arbiter.”
“It is clear that Judge Engoron should recuse himself immediately,” she added.
The New York Code of Judicial Conduct exists to ensure that litigants are afforded a fair and impartial trial. Justice Engoron’s communications with Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey regarding the merits of this case, however, directly violate that code and demonstrate that Judge…
— Alina Habba (@AlinaHabba) June 20, 2024
New York State Unified Court System communications department spokesperson Al Baker said that the court has “no further comment on this matter” in an email to Newsweek on Thursday evening.
In a previous statement to WNBC, Baker said that Engoron did not have improper conversations with “Mr. Bailey or any other person” prior to the Trump verdict, arguing that the ruling “was his alone, was deeply considered, and was wholly uninfluenced by this individual.”
Trump maintains his innocence in all legal matters and is appealing the civil judgment, which is separate from the 34 felony criminal convictions that he was hit with in New York last month. The former president is set to be sentenced in the criminal case on July 11.
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