CNN
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Former President Donald Trump went on a conspiracy theory-filled rant at a news conference Thursday after his lawyers finished closing arguments in his civil fraud trial in New York.
As he has always done, Trump slammed state prosecutors who are seeking more than $370 million from him and his co-defendants, a demand that a New York judge has held accountable for repeated corporate fraud. This was issued in response to a ruling that
He also promoted baseless conspiracy theories that President Joe Biden was pulling the strings and personally filed civil and criminal lawsuits as a way to undermine President Trump’s campaign.
Below is a fact-check of some of Trump’s comments on Thursday.
Trump blamed Biden for his legal problems and accused the president of weaponizing law enforcement to prevent him from returning to the White House.
“All of my legal issues, both civil and criminal, were engineered by Joe Biden…They’re doing this to interfere with the election,” Trump said.
Facts first: This is incorrect. Mr. Biden has played no role in Mr. Trump’s case, particularly the New York case launched by state investigators.
There is no validity to the claim that Biden is responsible for the New York civil trial. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) launched the investigation in 2019, before Biden became president.
Biden’s most direct connection to the Trump case is his appointment of a special counsel who prosecuted Trump in two federal criminal cases related to the 2020 election and classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. He appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland. However, this does not mean there was any substantive involvement by Biden.
Other cases causing headaches for Trump have nothing to do with Biden or Democratic prosecutors. For example, columnist E. Jean Carroll is a private citizen and has no connection to President Biden, but she is once again suing President Trump for defamation. A jury found last year that Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her when he denied the sexual assault allegations.
President Trump accused the James office of abusing New York fraud laws to go after him and his company.
“This is a consumer fraud law, and it’s never been used for this purpose before, and it’s unfortunate,” President Trump said.
Facts first: This is incorrect. The law was previously used in a lawsuit against Trump University several years ago.
CNN’s Daniel Dale previously fact-checked this claim in December.
He writes: “New York State Administrative Law Section 63(12), the 1956 law that New York State Attorney General Letitia James invoked in filing the lawsuit that led to the civil trial, has been extensively used by New York State Attorney Generals for decades. It has been used against lawsuits ranging from e-cigarette companies to school bus companies to oil and gas giant ExxonMobil…and in fact, it has been used against Trump University and the Trump Foundation. ”
The former president also claimed that some of his legal rights were violated, including being deprived of his right to a jury.
“We didn’t have a jury. We didn’t have a right to a jury,” President Trump said.
Facts first: This requires context. New York prosecutors applied a civil fraud statute that does not guarantee the right to a jury trial, but Mr. Trump’s lawyers did not pursue this issue at the beginning of the case, leading to Mr. Trump being tried by a jury.
It is well known in the Sixth Amendment that all Americans have the right to a trial by jury, but it only applies to “criminal prosecutions.” This is a civil case with different rules.
“Neither side is seeking a jury,” New York Judge Arthur Engoron said at the beginning of the trial. It is mandatory that the case be a public trial.” Only you can decide. ”
However, CNN previously reported that Trump’s lawyers could have filed a motion in court, asked a jury to try the case, and filed an appeal if they lost. Even if it’s a difficult path.
In subsequent comments, President Trump said he filed the lawsuit because James promised to investigate him when he was campaigning for New York attorney general in 2018.
“She was campaigning, ‘I’m going to get Trump,'” the former president said.
Facts first: He’s right. Mr. James campaigned on a promise to use his office to go after Mr. Trump.
During the 2018 campaign, Mr. James singled out Mr. Trump and said he would investigate him if elected.
in a video“I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president,” he said, referring to Trump and vowing to “fight back” against him if elected. He also said he should be charged with obstruction of justice, possibly referring to the Russia investigation, and vowed to scrutinize his real estate dealings.
And on the night she won in November 2018, she said: “I shine a bright light on the dark corners of his real estate transactions, every transaction, and demand authenticity at every turn.”
It’s important to note, however, that James wasn’t just targeting Trump and his fellow Republicans. For example, she investigated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and released a scathing report.
President Trump blamed James’ lawsuit for oil giant ExxonMobil’s move from New York to Texas.
“She went after Exxon and they decided to move to Texas,” Trump said.
Facts first: James’ office sued ExxonMobil, but that did not spur the company’s move to Texas in 1989.
According to a contemporaneous report in the New York Times, Exxon announced in October 1989 that it would be leaving Manhattan and moving to the Dallas area. At the time, James had just graduated from law school and been admitted to the state bar, according to New York state bar records. Additionally, she began her career as a public defender rather than a prosecutor.
It is clear that Mr. James had nothing to do with Exxon’s move more than 30 years ago.
But in recent years, the New York State Attorney General’s Office has filed climate change-related lawsuits against major oil companies. The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by James’ predecessor, who took over the case after becoming attorney general. A judge later ruled in Exxon’s favor, concluding that James’ investigators had fallen short of proving that Exxon had misled shareholders about the risks of climate change.
Last year, the company officially moved its headquarters from the Dallas area to the Houston suburbs.
