Government

Donald Trump's Lawyers Argued There Is No Such Thing As 'The Trump Org.' The Court Was Not Amused.

You tried, sweetie.

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Math Is Hard TrumpBREAKING: The Trump Organization does not exist! Nothing for the New York Attorney General to dissolve, no one to fine. Pack it in kids, we can all go home.

Or perhaps not.

Last week, the various Trumpland defendants’ answers to the NYAG’s $250 million civil complaint all began with some version of this denial:

To the extent a response is required, Defendant specifically denies the definitions of “Trump Organization” and “Defendants.” While the shorthand “Trump Organization” is utilized by Defendants for branding  and business purposes, no entity as such exists for legal purposes. The definitions of “Trump Organization” and “Defendants,” as used by the Attorney General, improperly group Defendants together, without regard to the nature or discrete legal identity of each Defendant, and fails to specify to which named Defendant or Defendants the conduct alleged is attributed. Such pleading is not “sufficiently particular to give the court and parties notice of the transactions [or] occurrences … intended to be proved”, and thus fails to satisfy the basic pleading requirements of CPLR 3013.

That response was in the answer submitted by… The Trump Organization Inc. Obviously.

Unsurprisingly, prosecutors were not amused. In a January 31 letter to Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, Senior Enforcement Counsel Kevin Wallace described the defendants’ answers as “deficient in a host of ways.” He also accused the parties, which include the former president, his three eldest children, and host of Trump companies, of continuing to advance defenses which have been resoundingly rejected by the court:

Defendants falsely deny facts they have admitted in other proceedings, they deny knowledge sufficient to respond to factual allegations that are plainly within their knowledge, and they propound affirmative defenses that have been repeatedly rejected by this Court as frivolous and without merit.

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Less than a month ago, Justice Engoron threatened to sanction counsel in this case for frivolous litigation, particularly Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba, former Florida Solicitor General Chris Kise, who represents some of the Trump entities, and Cliff Robert, counsel for the three Trump children.

“As this Court alluded to at the oral argument on the preliminary injunction, said defendants are making the same arguments based on the same facts and the same law, and thus would appear to be subject to issue and/or claim preclusion (law of the case),” he wrote in an ominous email on January 4.

In the event, he backed off, holding on January 6 that, “in its discretion, this Court will not impose sanctions, which it believes are unnecessary, having made its point.”

In light of the latest defense filings, prosecutors argued that, “It does not appear that this point was taken, however, and OAG would ask the Court to renew the issue.”

As reported by the Daily Beast’s Jose Pagliery, Justice Engoron did indeed renew the issue at a hearing this morning. And, although he declined to impose sanctions, the judge did tell the defendants to go back and redo their homework assignment, sans all the bullshit.

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“In my 35 years practicing law, I have never, never… seen a pleading with such excess verbiage as the 300-page-or-so answers of the 15-or-so answers to the complaint,” he said, adding later he remains “determined to start the trial on October 2, 2023, come hell or high water,” and no further dilatory tactics will be tolerated.

Pagliery also notes that the defense team has added NYAG veteran Armen Morian, who at one point chastised his former colleagues for their aggressive position, calling it “not a good look for our office.” (Does he know who he signed up to represent?)

It’s an interesting confluence of events, since Trump appears to be swapping out Habba in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case for defense lawyer Joseph Tacopina in preparation for the April trial. Maybe it has finally dawned on the former president that all the crazy stuff his favorite lawyer says on Newsmax is distinctly not helpful before an actual court?

Guess we’ll find out when those amended answers drop in a couple weeks.

Judge Gives Trump Lawyers Second Chance in New York Trial Showdown [Daily Beast]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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