President Trump’s legal team on Thursday called for the recusal of Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw his civil fraud trial, alleging that the judge had improper discussions about the case with an outside party.
On the same day Judge Engoron issued a multimillion-dollar judgment against Trump, a prominent New York real estate lawyer revealed in an interview with NBC that he had approached the judge about three weeks prior to offer unsolicited advice regarding the case. Although the lawyer later claimed that the word ‘Trump’ was never mentioned, he acknowledged that it was obvious which case they were discussing, stating, “Obviously we weren’t talking about the Mets.”
Court spokesperson Al Baker, at the time, asserted that Judge Engoron’s decision “was his alone, was deeply considered and was wholly uninfluenced” by the lawyer, denying any ex parte conversation regarding the case without all parties present or aware.
This conversation has prompted a state judicial conduct investigation last month.
In his February 16th ruling, Judge Engoron ordered Trump to pay a total of $464 million, plus interest. He has since appealed the ruling.
