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Trump tries to delay, dismiss civil lawsuit from James

Sep 26, 2023 12:55 pm

Rebecca Shabad and Chloe Atkins report for NBC News that New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron held a pretrial hearing Sept. 22 for New York Attorney General Letitia James' civil lawsuit against Donald Trump. The former president's lawyers asked for all seven causes of action in the complaint to be dismissed, while James claimed that the defendants made frivolous arguments. There are clearly two sides here that are far apart. Trump's lawyers say that James has "no valid authority" to sue, that the lawsuit was filed outside the statute of limitations, and that her office has, “failed to demonstrate any even theoretical harm to anyone, public or private.” James' office says the Trumps and their family business, the Trump Organization, are already liable for fraud even before the Oct. 2 trial. "The undisputed evidence establishes that Defendants employed a variety of deceptive schemes to grossly inflated values for many of Mr. Trump’s assets," her office wrote in a filing. The case is about the former president and his business, and whether they have repeatedly provided fraudulent financial information. For instance, the state alleges that Trump regularly overstated his personal net worth to financial institutions, by as much as $2.2 billion one year. On Tuesday, Sept. 26, the judge in the case said he would issue an order on the two summary judgments — one from each side — and the attorney general's request for sanctions soon. If he sides with the defendants’ summary judgment there will be no trial. Read more about this story at NBC News.