Trump Slams New York Civil Fraud Trial as ‘Unconstitutional Witch Hunt’ and ‘Election Interference’

Trump: “Well, thank you very much. As you know, we consider this unconstitutional witch hunt. It’s election interference at the highest level. It’s a disgrace. It’s in coordination with the White House and Joe Biden, because he can’t win a campaign fairly. And we’re going through it, but is indeed a terrible witch hunt. We’re going to have a news conference a little bit later on. As you know, I want to speak, I want to make the summation. At this moment, the judge is not letting me make the summation, because I bring up things that he doesn’t want to hear. And it’s very unfair trial. Nobody’s seen anything like this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. We have a situation where a statute was used that doesn’t give me a jury. So I have no jury. I really have no rights. And it’s — nobody — nobody thinks it’s constitutional. People, legal scholars, are writing about it, like it’s something they’ve never seen before. So it’s interference. It’s political interference, and something that shouldn’t be allowed. So I am hoping to speak, and to help my lawyers reveal all of the defects of this case which should have never been brought. Very, very strong financial statements. They thought it was the opposite. They had no idea because I’m a private company. When they saw them they knocked their socks off. They couldn’t believe it. But great financial statements, everything is good. We have — we have a level of detail in our defense that nobody’s ever had. This is a case that should have never been brought. And it was brought. And it’s very unfair, and it’s very bad for New York state. Companies are fleeing. People are fleeing. The streets are crime-ridden. And Letitia James, that’s all — all she thinks about to get Trump. She’s been dreaming about it for years, and it’s — you know, it’s not the way a state should be run. Because this is the state that’s been in big trouble. You have all the businesses fleeing, and yet the people fleeing, the people that pay taxes. People that don’t pay taxes are coming in. So that’s not what you want. So I want to thank you. We’re going to have a news conference today. We don’t know the time. We’ll — we’ll notify you, but sometime in the early afternoon at 40 Wall Street. So we’ll give a news conference where we can actually speak and have a microphone here, because either that they don’t want us to have, they really don’t want us to speak too much. So we’ll see whether or not the judge allows me to speak, perhaps he won’t. But I certainly would like to. Thank you very much.”