MAGA's Outrage at Trump Not Having a Jury Has One Problem

Many supporters of Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have expressed outrage that the former president's New York state fraud case will be decided by a judge and not a jury.

However, those upset by this manner of proceedings are missing a key fact: Trump's team made the decision for the case to be a bench trial without a jury.

Trump, along with his adult sons and their family business, is accused in a $250 million civil lawsuit brought by New York's attorney general, Letitia James, of inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to secure favorable loan terms from banks. James said Trump has exaggerated his wealth by more than $2 billion.

At the beginning of the trial on Monday, where Trump appeared in person, Judge Arthur Engoron said that "nobody asked for" a jury trial, meaning he alone will preside over the trial.

Mike Davis, a former chief counsel for nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley who now heads the Article III Project (A3P), was among those who have complained about the lack of jury.

"The Democrat New York attorney general, Letitia James, had this Democrat judge simply rule that Trump committed fraud—no trial, no jury," Davis, who frequently voices support for Trump, said on Steven Bannon's War Room podcast last week.

Davis shared a clip of his War Room appearance on X (formerly Twitter) last Thursday, and numerous people pointed out in the comments section that it was Trump's attorneys who decided against having a jury.

Last week, Engoron ruled that for years Trump had committed fraud about his real estate empire, in a phase of the case known as summary judgment.

When discussing that judgment on X, David Giglio—who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for the U.S. House in California's 13th Congressional District—mistakenly said Engoron didn't allow Trump to have a jury.

"So let me get this straight...A left wing judge issued a summary judgement against Trump & concluded he 'defrauded' banks out of money via loans that he (checks notes) paid back in full w/interest?" Giglio posted last week. "No wonder the judge denied Trump a jury trial. Total [banana emoji] republic stuff."

Trump himself railed about the results of the summary judgment and the lack of a jury during a Wednesday post on his Truth Social platform.

"I have a Deranged, Trump Hating Judge, who RAILROADED this FAKE CASE through a NYS Court at a speed never seen before, refusing to let it go to the Commercial Division, where it belongs, denying me everything, No Trial, No Jury," he wrote.

Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard, took exception with such comments from Trump.

"Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron noted that 'nobody asked for' a jury trial. So Trump's complaints about being tried by Justice Engoron, in addition to being baseless, make no sense," Tribe wrote on X. "Had he wanted a trial by jury, he should've requested one."

Some have asserted that one of Trump's lawyers, attorney Alina Habba, forgot to ask for a jury. Trump's team has not commented on these reports.

"When the judge just informed your client that the only reason he doesn't get a jury trial is because you forgot to check the box to ask for one," Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of the media outlet MeidasTouch, wrote on X in a post that included a photo of Habba at Monday's hearing.

In a separate message on X, Filipkowski noted that Trump has made disparaging comments about Engoron.

"I have to say it was brilliant for the stable genius to waive his right to a jury trial and have the case decided by a judge who you just said should be removed from the bench for criminal conduct," he wrote. "Hard to complain about a biased judge when you wanted him to decide the case."

Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman wrote on X that "it's incredibly easy to ask for a jury trial. You just check a box on a form.

"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," Litman said.

Democratic Representative Ted Lieu of California suggested Trump could have intentionally decided against a jury.

"The former President and his legal team likely concluded a jury would find he committed fraud," Lieu wrote on X. "This way Trump can keep falsely blaming the judge for the outcome."

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Trump maintained the former president did not have the option of having a jury.

"The Attorney General filed this case under a consumer protection statute that denies the right to a jury. There was never an option to choose a jury trial," 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."