Donald Trump had a decent day in court on Thursday, as his lawyer pressed a panel of New York state appellate judges to upend the massive, nine-figure fraud ruling against the former president and his business empire. If the judges’ pointed questions to the state are any indication, then there’s a chance that New York Attorney General Letitia James’ stunning trial victory earlier this year could be curbed.
Part of the issue boils down to how broadly James used a state law to go after Trump, given that it wasn’t a case where victims were conned and then complained to the government about it.
The hearing got off to a rough start for the state’s lawyer. Before she could say much at all, one of the judges jumped in to ask whether there had ever been a case where the attorney general sued under the state executive law
to upset a private business transaction that was between equally sophisticated partners, where the supposed victim had the ability and legal obligation to discover the allegedly misrepresented matters by conducting its own due diligence; where the supposed wrongdoer advised the supposed victim, through written disclaimers, to conduct its own due diligence and to draw its own conclusions; where the alleged misrepresentation almost entirely concerned inherently subjective valuations of properties and businesses; and where the victim never complained about any fraud.”