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In the year 2023, it\u2019s legitimately a full-time job, and one for which people should receive hazard pay, to keep track of all of the various legal problems facing Donald Trump<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> As a quick recap, there are four criminal indictments, a defamation suit by writer E. Jean Carroll,<\/strong> and a civil case from the New York attorney general accusing him of fraud. On Monday, Trump was in court to fight that last one\u2014and it started out comically bad for him.<\/p>\n To rewind, things were already going poorly for Trump on account of Judge Arthur Engoron<\/strong>\u2019s ruling<\/a> last week that the ex-president, the Trump Organization, and his two adults sons had committed years of massive fraud by overvaluing the company\u2019s assets in order to receive\u00a0better loan terms and lower insurance costs. On Monday\u2014which kicked off the trial in which Engoron will decide<\/a> if Trump must pay the $250 million in damages demanded by NY AG Letitia James,<\/strong> and if he will be barred from running a business in New York\u2014things then got worse when the judge blew up one of Trump\u2019s major complaints about the proceedings, and made his lawyers look like idiots in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n Responding to Trump\u2019s rant<\/a> that Engoron is a \u201ca Deranged, Trump Hating Judge\u201d who denied him of a jury trial, Engoron reportedly informed the former president that the reason he alone, and not a jury, will decide the case is<\/a>, is because \u201cnobody asked for\u201d a jury trial. As The Messenger notes<\/a>, earlier this year, James filed a court document with a checkmark next to \u201ctrial without a jury,\u201d which Trump\u2019s legal team could have argued against via their own form, but did not. It\u2019s not clear if the ex-president\u2019s lawyers purposely chose to forgo a jury trial, which would seemingly be unwise, or if they somehow just forgot to file the paperwork asking for one, which would somehow be even worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n During opening statements on Monday, Kevin Wallace,<\/strong> a lawyer for the attorney general\u2019s office, reportedly declared<\/a> that \u201cYear after year, loan after loan, defendants misrepresented Mr. Trump\u2019s net worth.\u201d He argued that while it might be okay\u2014or not illegal\u2014to do so to get on a magazine\u2019s rich list, \u201cyou cannot do it while conducting business in the state of New York.\u201d Wallace also referred to what is presumably a very touchy point on Trump\u2019s part, that, per the government, he valued his triplex in Trump Tower based on a size of 30,000 square feet, when in reality it is about one-third of that size. In a statement, James said: \u201cDonald Trump falsely inflated his net worth to enrich himself and cheat the system. No matter how rich or powerful you are, there are not two sets of laws for people in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s legal team\u2014the one that didn\u2019t file the paperwork to get a jury\u2014has of course claimed that the ex-president did nothing wrong, with Alina Habba<\/strong> reportedly arguing during her opening statement that the Trump Organization was just \u201cdoing business\u201d and that \u201cthere was no intent to defraud, period, the end.\u201d She also claimed James\u2019s sole purpose in running for attorney general was to \u201cget Trump,\u201d the Times<\/em> noted. Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Trump called the case a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d and \u201ca disgrace,\u201d saying, \u201cYou ought to go after this attorney general,\u201d because if there\u2019s one thing the man loves, it\u2019s a not-so-veiled threat<\/a> against his enemies<\/a>. According to the Times<\/em>, \u201cAs he left the courtroom on Monday afternoon, Mr. Trump passed Ms. James in the front row. He glared at her. Soon after, his son Eric<\/strong> walked by and shook her hand.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump claims there are \u201cmurderers that are running all over the city\u201d while surrounded by children<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nX content<\/h4>\n