Donald Trump storms out of court, rages at judge in fraud case

Mr Trump’s abrupt exit on Wednesday, local time, which sent his Secret Service detail scrambling, was one of several dramatic moments inside the courtroom – another coming when he was ordered to take the stand.

The former president is accused of committing financial fraud by inflating the value of his properties and assets to secure tax benefits and better terms for his loans.

Wednesday featured further testimony from Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer”. Mr Trump’s current legal team, led by lawyers Alina Habba and Clifford Robert, grilled Mr Cohen on his history of contradictory statements.

Mr Cohen yesterday claimed Mr Trump had instructed him to inflate the value of certain assets. That contradicted earlier testimony he gave in 2019, when he said: “Did he ask me to inflate the numbers? Not that I recall, no.”

Under cross-examination from Ms Habba and Mr Robert, Mr Cohen said his 2019 statement was “correct”. He claimed the confusion around that detail was a result of Mr Trump speaking “like a mob boss”, issuing instructions tacitly instead of explicitly.

‘Not credible’: Trump hauled up to the stand

Mr Trump got himself in trouble by making a pointed remark to reporters outside the courtroom, in which he impugned the integrity of the judge.

“If we had a jury it would have been fair, at least, even if it was a somewhat negative jury. Because no negative jury would vote against me,” he said.

“But this judge will. Because this judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside him. Perhaps even more partisan than he is.”

The judge in this case is New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, whom Mr Trump has previously labelled “deranged”, among other things.

The rest of his remark appeared to be aimed at Justice Engoron’s clerk, a woman named Allison Greenfield, who sits next to him in the courtroom. Mr Trump has attacked her before – weeks ago the court imposed a gag order banning him from doing so again.

“Personal attacks on my staff are inappropriate and I won’t tolerate them,” Justice Engoron said at the time.

Asked to explain Mr Trump’s new comments about Ms Greenfield on Wednesday, his legal team claimed he’d been talking about Mr Cohen. Justice Engoron called Mr Trump to the stand to resolve the issue, prompting gasps from around the room.

The former president told Justice Engoron he had been talking about “you and Cohen”, though he threw in another swipe at Ms Greenfield as well, claiming “she’s very biased against us”.

Justice Engoron ruled that Mr Trump’s testimony was “not credible”, and fined him $US10,000 for breaching the gag order.

Former president storms out

Mr Trump’s decision to suddenly leave the courtroom actually came some time after that admonishment, when Justice Engoron refused a motion by his defence team for a directed verdict – i.e. for the case to be thrown out.

The defence argued Mr Cohen was a “key witness” and had proven himself not to be credible, making the case against Mr Trump academic. The judge disagreed, saying the case did not hinge on Mr Cohen’s evidence alone.

Mr Trump stood and exited the room, muttering the word “unbelievable” under his breath.

When he passed through the doorway and found the media’s cameras waiting outside, he made a brief statement.

“The witness just admitted that we won the trial, and the judge should end this trial immediately. Thank you,” Mr Trump claimed.

He spoke again, at slightly greater length, at the end of proceedings for the day.

“Michael Cohen, you all saw, he said, ‘Trump did nothing wrong,’” Mr Trump said. (Mr Cohen did not, in fact, say that.)

“He said Trump did not ask him to do anything having to do with valuations. And he was caught lying like nobody’s ever lied. It was better than a Perry Mason moment.

“And that should be the end of the case. In any other case, any other judge, this would be the end of the case. We’re being railroaded here.”