UNITED STATES –
Trump calls for civil conviction to be overturned
“For the good of the country,” a lawyer for Donald Trump is calling for the annulment of a civil conviction of the former future president last winter for financial fraud.
Donald Trump during his civil trial for fraud, January 11, 2024, in New York.
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In a letter dated Tuesday, John Sauer, who will be number 4 at the Department of Justice from January 20, demanded from the head of Justice of the State of New York, Attorney General Letitia James, that she “completely abandons the case against President Donald J. Trump, his family, his businesses and vacates the judgment and all damages.”
The former future American president was sentenced in mid-February by a Manhattan civil court to 454 million dollars (around 400 million francs) in fines with his sons Eric and Donald Jr., for financial fraud within their real estate empire Trump Organization.
They were found guilty of inflating their assets, such as Trump Tower and the 40 Wall Street building, by several billion dollars in the 2010s in order to be granted better bank loans.
“End partisan conflicts”
After the conviction, Letitia James, an elected magistrate from the Democratic Party, threatened to launch legal seizures of real estate to recover the value of the fine.
But the one who was still only the 45e president campaigning for his re-election had posted a guarantee of 175 million dollars in court in April, a bond covered by an insurer, and had appealed.
“Following his historic election victory, President Trump called for an end to partisan conflict and for rival factions to join forces for the greater good of the country,” writes soon-to-be State Attorney General John Sauer. » before the United States Supreme Court.
This summer, the lawyer succeeded before this High Court with a conservative majority in ensuring that it broadens the scope of presidential immunity, and therefore that of Donald Trump between his two terms.
Constitutional argument
If the civil conviction is not overturned, it will raise “serious and doubtful constitutional questions”, threatens John Sauer.
The jurist even invokes the history of the United States in his legal argument, relying on the unifying works of Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy: “On October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving the holiday “We celebrate (Thursday) by urging Americans to put aside bitter divisions and bless freedom with one voice and one heart.”
On Tuesday, Donald Trump saw his federal criminal charges for election interference in 2020 dropped.
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