Former US President Donald Trump attacked Arthur Engoron, the judge overseeing his civil case, as he left the courtroom during a lunch break following opening statements this morning. Trump called Engoron a Democrat and "an operative," saying that the case against him was a "disgrace." He also attacked the New York Attorney General Letitia James for going after him instead of violent crime. "We're going to be here for months with a judge that already made up his mind. It's ridiculous," Trump said. "They waste their time with this, with banks that were very happy that got all their money back. They weren't defrauded. I've been defrauded," Trump said. Engoron ruled last week that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud in the attorney general's civil case, one of the seven claims that are a part of the lawsuit. Trump has not expressed much emotion in the courtroom for the first session of the criminal fraud trial. During the four opening statements, Trump sat at the defense table between two of his lawyers. He never spoke to the judge. Trump often faced forward, watching the small video monitor in front of him which displayed the opening presentations by the state and his defense lawyer. When Alina Habba and Cliff Robert, who are lawyers for Trump's co-defendants, spoke without video presentations, Trump looked at them intently. Habba, who represents Allen Weiselberg, Jeff McConney and other employees of the Trump organization, at times turned to Trump when she was discussing the valuation of his Mar-a-Lago resort. As Trump's lawyer, Christopher Kise, answered questions from the judge, Trump wrote notes and passed them to him. Eric Trump, who is also a defendant, sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery, on the defense side behind and to his father's left. Earlier, Donald Trump claimed before walking into court Monday that the New York Attorney General's civil case against him was part of an attempt to harm his campaign. "This has to do with election interference, plain and simple," Trump said. "They're trying to damage me, so I don't do as well as I'm doing in the election." Trump's claims about election interference are the same attacks he's made against all four of the criminal indictments against him. Before entering the New York courtroom Monday, Trump attacked James, as well as Manhattan District Attorney General Alvin Bragg and the Justice Department, linking the civil action against him in New York with his criminal indictments, even though they are not related. The case began with Kevin Wallace, an attorney for the New York Attorney General's office, charging that each of the defendants in Trump's civil case, including the former president, participated in or had knowledge of the information in the fraudulent financial statements and conspired to commit persistent and repeated fraud. Wallace urged the judge in his opening statement to bar Trump from doing business in New York. He alleged that Trump's fraudulent financial statements convinced banks to take on hidden risk "to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars." "Year after year, loan after loan, the defendants misrepresented Trump's net worth to maintain those favorable interest rates," he noted. The attorney general's office has alleged that Trump inflated his net worth by as much as $3.6 billion in three separate years between 2011 and 2021. Attorneys for Trump have refuted the claims, arguing that asset valuations are highly subjective. In his opening statement, Wallace used video clips of depositions from Donald Trump, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Trump's former longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. Wallace also played a clip of Michael Cohen's deposition addressing the years he helped prepare the documents. Trump attorney Kise began his opening statement with an understatement, saying their team has a "very different picture of the evidence." Kise said the former president's real estate knowledge made him a billionaire. "There may be wide variations between different valuations" of certain parts of the Trump Org.'s real estate portfolio, Kise said. He added the evidence at trial will show the asset valuations on Trump's statements of financial condition comply with regulatory requirements. Also, Trump posted clips of New York attorney general talking about suing the former president. Videos of James talking about suing Trump were being posted on the former president's social media account. Trump is arguing that the case, which began Monday, is politically motivated. In one video, James can be heard saying, "Oh we're going to definitely sue him. We're going to be a real pain in the ass." In another clip, she says, "What is fueling my soul right now is Trump." The videos are posted on social media platform Truth Social. "New York embarrassment Letitia James is politically targeting President Trump," the text in one video reads. "Letitia James is abusing her office." — CNN
