The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial may have based a pre-trial decision on incorrect property valuations, former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Newsmax on Monday.
Judge Arthur Engoron in late September, ahead of the $250 million civil lawsuit being brought against Trump, his adult sons and the Trump Organization by New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruled that the former president defrauded banks and insurers for years as he built his real estate empire.
Engoron at the time agreed with James that Trump overvalued his assets and exaggerated his net worth.
Trump testified Monday that financial estimates of many of his properties were inaccurate.
"The judge obviously may have not had the right evidence in front of him when he granted that summary judgment in the first place, and is probably a little concerned with all of this testimony from the Trump organization and the family members as to whether or not his valuations are actually correct that he granted that summary judgment on," Whitaker told Newsline host Bianca de la Garza.
"And the other thing, just to be clear, is there are no victims in this allegation because, you know, at the end of the day all these banks that these documents were provided to have been paid back."
Whitaker also was asked about James' daily video trial updates.
"I think being a prosecutor, it is drilled into our heads that you know, you let the evidence speak for itself," he said. "You let your statements in court speak for themselves, and you don't go and make extra jurisdictional statements outside of the court and outside of the judge’s purview, and so that's exactly what she's doing. She's trying to maximize the attention she's getting from this in hopes of catapulting her political career ahead.
"But you know, at the end of the day, the facts in the law matter and no matter what she tried is the report from the courtroom this is kind of a sad day when you can target one individual citizen and try to bring draconian remedies on him based just on things that happened in the ordinary course of daily business."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE -- See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.