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Closing arguments begin in Trump's New York civil fraud trial

Closing arguments have officially started in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial.

His defense attorneys are up first, and MSNBC reports Judge Arthur Engoron has given them about two and a half hours to make their case. Arguing for Trump is former Florida solicitor general Chris Kise:

Judge Arthur Engoron briefly allowed photographers and videographers into the courtroom.

Per their images, Donald Trump was seated with his attorneys at the defense table. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, was in the audience behind him and to his right. Her prosecutors were at the table across from him.

A large crowd of reporters were gathered outside the courthouse this morning in anticipation of Donald Trump’s arrival at his New York fraud trial for closing arguments.

The scene was reminiscent of other key days in the trial, such as when former Trump fixer Michael Cohen testified in October, and when Trump took the stand in November. Of the 44 days in the trial, which began in early October, only a few have drawn such a crowd.

Today’s closing arguments will be the formal ending of the trial. Attorneys for both sides had issued written closing briefs, summarizing their view of how the trial went. Today is the last chance for Trump’s team to make an in-person appeal to Judge Arthur Engoron.

Trump is expected to show up to court today, though he will likely not speak. Engoron struck down his request to make his own closing statement, saying there should be no campaign speeches in the courtroom.

Trump stands accused of falsifying business records to boost his net worth. He is being sued for $370m.

A small group of anti-Trump protestors briefly blocked traffic in front of the courthouse holding a banner and chanting “No dictators in the USA!” The group had shown up on the first day of the trial and had then chanted “Trump lies all the time!”

When New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, ascended the courthouse steps, the small crowd, now standing in the park across the street, chanted “Thank you, Tish!”

Trump arrives for closing arguments in New York civil fraud trial - report

The Messenger reports that Donald Trump has entered the courtroom for the closing arguments in the civil fraud case brought against him by the New York attorney general, Letitia James:

Donald Trump is expected in the Manhattan courtroom today for closing arguments in his civil fraud trial (which he wanted to make himself). Yesterday, he was in Iowa, where the Guardian’s David Smith reports he took credit for the supreme court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v Wade and allowing states to ban abortion:

Donald Trump, the former US president, boasted about the “miracle” of ending the constitutional right to abortion but warned that Republicans who tout extreme bans are being “decimated” in elections.

Trump was put on the spot on Wednesday during a Fox News town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, his latest attempt at counter-programming a Republican debate that was being shown on CNN at the same time.

A female voter, undecided between Trump and rival Ron DeSantis, raised concerns over the Republican frontrunner’s recent attempts to back away from abortion restrictions unpopular in elections and opinion polls.

She said: “I’ve been vocal in celebrating with you all of your pro-life victories from the past but then in this campaign you’ve also blamed pro-lifers for some of the GOP losses around the country and you’ve called heartbeat laws like Iowa’s terrible.”

The voter added: “I’d just like some clarity on this because it’s such an important question to me. I’d like for you to reassure me that you can protect all life, every person’s right to life without compromise.”

Ahead of presenting the closing arguments in Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial, the New York attorney general, Letitia James, offered a summary of the case against the former president on X:

According to the Daily Beast, “more than half a dozen police cars and a bomb squad rushed” to Judge Arthur Engoron’s Long Island home after a bomb threat was phoned in.

The message was “perceived as a blatant attempt to delay the trial’s closing arguments”, and a spokesman for the Nassau county police said they have opened an “active investigation”.

Police investigate bomb threat at judge's home - reports

Police are investigating a bomb threat made against the judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the fraud trial of Donald Trump and his family business empire in New York, NBC reports.

A law enforcement bomb squad went to the judge’s home in Nassau county, on the outskirts of New York City, yesterday, sources told the TV station. It is not known if Engoron or anyone else was home at the time.

Engoron is expected at court in Manhattan today to sit as closing arguments are presented in the New York attorney general Letitia James’s civil fraud case against Trump, his sons Don Jr and Eric and other senior figures in the New York-based Trump Organization, the family real estate empire.

Trump to attend closing arguments in New York fraud trial

Donald Trump’s lawyers will make their closing arguments in a New York court room today as they attempt to see off a legal judgment that could impose a $370m fraud fine on the former president’s family firm and ban it from doing business in the state, where the Trump Organization real estate empire is based.

The former US president reportedly planned to deliver his own closing statement at the trial – a last chance to defend himself against charges he inflated the value of his assets on financial statements for profit. But the judge overseeing the civil case blocked that move on Wednesday.

The New York fraud trial had been on a nearly month-long break for the holidays since December after 11 weeks of witness testimony. It is unclear when Engoron will issue a verdict, though he has indicated he will make a decision by the end of the month. Because the trial is a bench trial, there is no jury, and Engoron is the sole decider of the case.

In a pre-trial ruling, Engoron already found Trump, his adult sons and the former Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney guilty of fraud, saying they botched the value of various Trump properties on government forms.

More details here and more background here.

Trump expected in New York for closing arguments in civil fraud trial

Good morning, US politics blog readers. Today, in New York City, Donald Trump will take yet another break from the campaign trail to appear for the closing arguments in the civil fraud trial the New York attorney general, Letitia James, brought against his business empire. The former president, who is no lawyer, intended to deliver the arguments himself in court, but that was knocked down yesterday by Arthur Engoron, the judge hearing the case. The stakes are high for Trump, since Engoron has already found he and his co-defendants engaged in fraud for years, and is now considering what penalties to levy against them.

The trial’s conclusion takes place four days before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses on Monday, which the former president is expected to win. That would put him on course to once again claim the party’s nomination, despite Trump facing 91 criminal charges in four cases, in addition to ongoing civil cases. We’ll cover today’s proceedings – Trump included – live.

It’s been a lively last 12 hours and the next 12 are set to be just as fascinating. Here’s what’s going on:

• Donald Trump’s lawyers will make their closing arguments as they attempt to see off a civil case judgment that could impose a $370m fraud fine on his family firm and ban it from doing business in New York state.

• Before heading to the court house in New York today, the former US president said at a Fox News town hall in Des Moines last night that the overturning of Roe v Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion, by a US supreme court he helped to tip rightwards was a “miracle”, and also that he knows who his running mate will be if he wins the Republican nomination for president, though he’s not telling. The town hall was his alternative to taking part in …

• … The last GOP debate before Monday’s Iowa caucuses, last night, where just two of the three rivals who qualified for the event were in a hostile head-to-head clash. Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis traded insults and accusations, shortly after their trailing rival Chris Christie suspended his 2024 campaign.

• Joe Biden has been hosting top donors and others for private lunches at the White House in an effort to bolster support for his re-election campaign, the Washington Post reports, while Axios added that the White House counsel’s office has advised the president to stop giving big donors tours of the Oval Office, to avoid an ethics problem.

• Hunter Biden, hot from his unexpected visit to Capitol Hill to attend a House committee hearing where the Republican majority wants to hold him in contempt of Congress, will have to show up in a Los Angeles court room today. The president’s son is expected to deny tax offenses.

The Guardian is also running global live blogs on Israel’s war in Gaza and the wider situation in the Middle East, which you can follow here, and Russia’s war in Ukraine, which you can follow here.

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