Donald Trump appears in New York court, calls fraud trial 'witch hunt and corrupt'
· WIONFormer US President Donald Trump on Thursday (Dec 7) appeared at a New York court to attend his ongoing civil fraud trial, where he condemned the process as unfair.
The frontrunner for the next year's Republican presidential nomination, along with his two eldest sons, has been accused of boosting the value of his real estate purchases to acquire more favourable bank loans and insurance terms.
His defence team is asserting that the former US president's family organisation did not exploit the value of its properties to win profitable financing.
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"This is a witch hunt. This is election interference at a level that has never seen before, comes out of the DOJ (Department of Justice) in the White House in order to hurt a political opponent. And actually, it's driving up my polls because the people of our country get it," Trump said while talking to reporters.
"The poll numbers are the highest I've ever had, and the people of our country get it. It's a disgrace to America," he further added.
During his trial, Trump called the judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the trial, "crazy" and "unhinged," and denounced New York State Attorney General Letitia James as "corrupt" and "racist."
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“The Attorney General committed fraud. You just saw it right up there. She's a fraud. This whole case is a fraud. It’s election interference. It’s keeping me here instead of Iowa and New Hampshire. You just saw it – the Attorney General’s a fraud. She committed fraud.”
Engoron has previously ruled that Trump and his sons exploited financial statements to deceive banks and insurers into delivering better loan and insurance tenures.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking $250 million in penalties and wants to get Trump banned from New York state real estate business.
Trump is expected to testify as the final defence witness on Monday (Dec 11). He has denied wrongdoing and says James, an elected Democrat, is biased against him.
"This is weaponization of justice," he said on Thursday. "It's a sad day for our country that a thing like this can take place. I'm sitting in a courthouse instead of being in Iowa where I should be, even though I'm leading by about 40 points."
(With inputs from agencies)