The appellate court considering the civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump could very well reverse the case and send it back for a new trial, Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax Monday.
On "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE," Napolitano questioned the case's legitimacy, saying, "the oral argument was fascinating. And you've described it very nicely. And quite frankly, these judges have put their fingers on the same problems in the case that you and I talked about, back when the case was being tried.
"When one of the judges said to the [attorney general], how badly was the victim harmed before the attorney general's lawyer could answer that? And another judge piped up and said, 'what victim?' There was no victim here."
Napolitano continued, "So that is the core of Trump's defense: A, there was no victim, and B, there is no way to measure harm. And see this number that Justice Engoron — remember him? — came up with, bears no resemblance to any wrongdoing that Trump did.
"I think it's either going to be reversed entirely and sent back for a new trial, or cut down so substantially that Trump will pay the fine, laugh at them while he's doing it, and move on with his life."
A Manhattan trial judge in February found that Trump and other defendants had fraudulently inflated his net worth and the value of his real estate properties to obtain favorable rates from banks and insurers. He ordered Trump to pay a fine of nearly $500 million.
During oral arguments on Thursday, some members of the five-judge appeals court panel suggested that New York Attorney General Letitia James had overstepped in bringing the case against Trump.
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Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
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