Attorneys for former President Donald Trump filed a motion on Thursday for New York Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw Trump’s civil fraud trial, to recuse himself after a lawyer allegedly offered the judge unsolicited advice on the Trump trial.
Engoron ruled against Trump in his civil fraud trial in February, and ordered the former president to pay $355 million in penalties, plus interest, as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil fraud case against him.
Trump attorneys Alina Habba and Clifford Robert called for his recusal in a 24-page motion, after lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey told NBC-4 that he spoke with Engoron about the case. But Bailey never mentioned Trump by name, according to The Hill.
“Allegations have surfaced revealing this Court may have engaged in actions fundamentally incompatible with the responsibilities attendant to donning the black robe and sitting in judgment,” the attorneys said in the motion.
The conversation reportedly took place in February, a couple of weeks before Engoron handed down his verdict.
“I saw him in the corner [at the courthouse] and I told my client, ‘I need to go.’ And I walked over and we started talking. … I wanted him to know what I think and why … I really want him to get it right,” Bailey told NBC New York in February.
A spokesperson for the New York State’s Office of Court Administration has denied that the conversation between Bailey and Engoron influenced the judge’s final decision in the civil fraud case.
The allegations that Engoron acted unethically in speaking to an outside lawyer about the Trump case has prompted an investigation by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, NBC New York reported, citing anonymous sources. One major part of the potential ethics violation centers on Engoron allegedly accepting expert advice without disclosing it to either party.
Habba and Clifford claimed that the judge’s inaction on informing them of the supposed advice meant he participated in three months of “obfuscation.”
“The New York Code of Judicial Conduct exists to ensure that litigants are afforded a fair and impartial trial,” Habba said in a statement. “Justice Engoron’s communications with Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey regarding the merits of this case, however, directly violate that code and demonstrate that Judge Engoron cannot serve as a fair arbiter. It is clear that Judge Engoron should recuse himself immediately.”
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