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Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, has denied suggestions that the former president is not getting a jury trial in his New York $250 million fraud civil case because his legal team did not request one in legal filings.
On the first day of proceedings, Judge Arthur Engoron told the Manhattan courtroom that "nobody asked for" a jury trial, and that is why the outcome of the lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James will be decided by the judge in a bench trial.
Legal experts said that all Trump's legal team had to do to request a jury trial was to tick a box in court filings, with some suggesting that Habba herself failed to do so. In late July, James' office filed papers to request a trial without jury, which is common for civil cases, with Trump's legal team apparently not opposing the request.
Speaking to Newsmax on Monday, Habba denied that the reason Trump has not got a jury trial in the fraud case is because his legal team "had this great option to have a box checked" which they did not take, describing the suggestions as a "misconception."
Habba argued that the case was filed under New York Executive Law 63(12), which she described as a "very narrow, not appropriately used section of the law" for consumer protection where a jury are generally not required.
"It's not this, and that is why we're sitting here in front of a judge dealing with values of property, where real estate, anybody with real estate brains, anybody with real estate experience, even laymen, can understand that a tax assessment is not the same as the market value of your property, period," Habba added.
A similar argument was made by a Trump spokesperson in a statement. "The Attorney General filed this case under a consumer protection statute that denies the right to a jury," the spokesperson told Newsweek. "It is unfortunate that a jury won't be able to hear how absurd the merits of this case are and conclude no wrongdoing ever happened."
Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman was one of those who suggested Trump's legal team are to blame for there not being a jury to decide his fate in New York.
"It's incredibly easy to ask for a jury trial. You just check a box on a form," Litman posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Hard to believe that Trump understood that his lawyers hadn't done it when he's been savaging the judge who is now the factfinder in his huge fraud trial."
Katie Phang, a lawyer and MSNBC legal analyst, added: "So Alina Habba didn't demand a jury trial?! I wonder how Trump feels about this screw-up by his legal team."
California Democratic Representative Ted Lieu suggested Trump and his team may have purposely opted to not have a jury trial so the former president "can keep falsely blaming the judge for the outcome."
However, lawyer Andrew Fleischman dismissed the suggestions that not having a jury trial is a tactic from Trump's team.
"I honestly can't believe that any lawyer hired on such an important case could make this mistake. But I also can't think of any strategic reason you'd want a bench trial in front of a judge who just sanctioned your lawyers for making frivolous arguments," Fleischman posted on X.
Engoron already ruled on September 26 that Trump committed fraud while inflating the value of several of his properties and assets for years while filing financial statements, the main crux of James' $250 million lawsuit against the former president, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and The Trump Organization.
The ruling means that the civil trial will now look at other allegations from James' lawsuit related to falsification of business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud and conspiracy, as well as the size of the penalty which will be decided by Engoron—a judge Trump has frequently attacked on social media as "deranged."
Speaking outside the New York courtroom on Monday, Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, continued his attacks on Engoron and the case.
"This is a judge that should be disbarred. This is a judge that should be out of office. This is a judge that some people say could be charged criminally for what he's doing. He's interfering with an election, and it's a disgrace," Trump said.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more