The plan by Donald Trump to deliver closing arguments yesterday in his New York civil business fraud trial was dashed yesterday by the judge overseeing the case.
Trump had planned to give his speech in addition to his legal team’s summations, according to two people familiar with the highly unusual plan.
But Judge Arthur Engoron rescinded permission for the speech.
In an email exchange, the judge requested Trump agree to certain conditions requiring he focus only on the facts of the case and refrain from introducing new evidence or commenting on “irrelevant matters” to formally address the court.
Engoron also stressed that Trump would not be allowed to deliver “a campaign speech”, or “impugn me, my staff, plaintiff, plaintiff’s staff, or the New York state court system”
The former president’s legal team would not agree to these terms.
“I won’t debate this yet again,” Engoron wrote yesterday after Trump’s lawyers pushed back. “Take it or leave it. Now or never. You have until noon, seven minutes from now. I WILL NOT GRANT ANY FURTHER EXTENSIONS.”
When Trump’s lawyers failed to respond in time, Engoron followed up with another email.
“Not having heard from you by the third extended deadline,” he wrote, “I assume that Mr. Trump will not agree to the reasonable, lawful limits I have imposed as a precondition to giving a closing statement above and beyond those given by his attorneys, and that, therefore, he will not be speaking in court tomorrow.”
