In a spontaneous press conference at his 40 Wall Street property on Monday, former President Donald Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with New York Judge Arthur Engoron and Attorney General Letitia James, while also commending the appeals court for significantly reducing his bond from $454 million to $175 million.
“It’s a bittersweet moment for our nation for several reasons, yet the silver lining is the appellate division’s fairness,” Trump shared with journalists during a 21-minute, unscripted news conference, where he freely answered questions from the media without any prepared notes or cues. “The amount is still substantial, but it’s clear that the judge is biased.”
“In my view, he’s the judge whose decisions are most frequently overturned. In this case alone, his rulings have been reversed five times. He made a decision against me before he had any real understanding of the case. He ruled against me. The entire case was focused on damages, yet there were no damages,” Trump elaborated.
Trump also mentioned that there were settlement discussions between his legal team and the judge, which, according to Trump, revealed the highly partisan nature of Engoron’s original $454 million judgment, especially given its timing within the 2024 presidential election cycle.
“You might get him to discuss the settlement negotiations because the figures he mentioned then were not the ones we’re seeing now,” Trump added.
On Monday, Trump was in New York City to attend a court session for District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment, which Trump describes as, at most, a misdemeanor concerning business records. However, Democrats and anti-Trump media have dubbed it the Stormy Daniels hush-money case, relating to allegations of election interference from the 2016 election.
“It’s a disgrace what’s happening in our country, and we must reclaim our nation, which we will,” Trump stated, seizing the opportunity to broadcast his campaign messages amid the ongoing legal battles in New York City, a place he once considered home before facing attacks from Democratic legal system officials — many of whom, like James, have campaigned with promises to take legal action against Trump.
“That’s what’s going to happen: Nov. 5, I believe, will be the most pivotal day in our nation’s history. We’ll remove these individuals from office, secure our borders, and, as I often say, ‘Drill, baby, drill.’ We’ll start drilling again, reduce energy costs, eliminate the absurd electric car mandate — an unprecedented level of foolishness — and restore law and order to our cities, which are currently in chaos,” Trump asserted.
Trump lauded the New York appellate court’s decision to more than halve Engoron’s bond on Monday.
“I have great respect for the appellate division’s decision, and we will comply with it,” Trump stated. “We’ll promptly secure the bond with cash or securities, whatever is required, and we’re confident we’ll win the case.”
Trump has consistently argued that these legal challenges are aimed at interfering with the election to support President Joe Biden’s campaign and to damage Trump’s public image, suggesting that if these were not the motives, the cases would have been initiated years ago rather than in the final months of the presidential campaign.
“If my campaign was not performing well, none of this would be happening, and these trials would not be taking place. If I weren’t running, these cases wouldn’t exist,” Trump concluded.