Another day, another massive legal win for Donald Trump in his fight against years of unfair, absurd, targeted lawfare against him. This one is a stunner.
Let me tell you a story. It was the summer of 2023, and I saw Trump at a Turning Point USA event. We had a very nice exchange, and I spoke with his team behind the scenes about the lawfare that he was facing. They made it clear to me that, of all the civil and criminal trials he was facing, the one that really had Trump stressed was the civil business fraud trial brought by New York Attorney General Leitita James because it was so unfair and threatened his business to its core. It threatened to bankrupt him.
The Case
This was such a cockamamie, convoluted case with a statute that had never been used like this. He was accused of essentially undervaluing his assets when he filed his taxes, and then overvaluing them when he wanted to get favorable loan terms, and, therefore, he is a fraudster.
One of the ironies of this whole case is that he was dealing with very sophisticated banks, and the banks actually said, ‘No harm done. We’re good. He repaid the loans in full with interest. We love being in business with him.’ And still Tish James was out there saying a “fraud” had been committed. The people of New York were “defrauded.”
She never adequately explained why, but she had something in her back pocket and that was an even more hard partisan judge, Arthur Engoron, who clearly wanted to be a Democrat star. It was a judge trial, not a jury trial, and, unsurprisingly, it did not go Trump’s way. Engoron threw the book at him and entered what is now, with interest, an over $500 million judgment against him.
The Appeal
Today, it was thrown out by an appeals court. A panel of five judges in New York’s Appellate Division said the verdict was “excessive” and violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. It’s amazing. Trump had to live under this for years now – not just Donald Trump, but Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, both of whom have been pulled into this and harassed by this rabid partisan posing as an objective attorney general.
The court has left in place some minor injunctive relief against the Trump Organization. But none of it is really going to matter that much, because, let’s face it, the Trumps are busy doing something else for the next couple of years.
This was a resounding victory for Donald Trump. The entire monetary judgment has been vacated. It has been wiped out. This is a court of Democrats. There is only one Republican-appointed judge, so for Trump to get this support is really shocking.
‘It Has All Failed’
What a day. It has all failed. All the lawfare against Donald Trump has failed. The only thing that actually stuck was that ridiculous defamation case from E. Jean Carroll for an alleged sexual assault, the date of which she couldn’t remember. That’s the only thing that stuck. Trump has defeated everything else.
He defeated four criminal cases against him. The U.S. Supreme Court wound up issuing a ruling that presidents, in their official duties, largely have immunity. That was a hugely consequential ruling. And now this massive judgment that was lingering over him has been lifted, the prosecutor humiliated, and she is about to learn the hard way that no one really is above the law.
What a day.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,133 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.