CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said Donald Trump has “no chance” of winning when he appeals Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling that ordered him to pay a massive sum in penalties in his civil fraud case in New York.
Judge Engoron, who found Trump, the Trump Organization and several top executives, including his adult sons, liable for fraud before the trial began, ruled Friday that the former president must pay nearly $355 million for falsely inflating and deflating the value of his assets to receive lower taxes and better insurance coverage.
Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump were also ordered to pay more than $4 million each and were barred from serving as officers or directors of any New York corporation or other legal entity for two years. The Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was also ordered to pay $1 million and banned from New York business for three years.
Trump’s attorney Alina Habba slammed the ruling as a “politically fueled witch hunt”. She vowed to appeal the decision and is confident that “the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious verdict.”
But, Honig told CNN that Trump “has next to no chance of prevailing” on appeal because Engoron’s ruling was “meticulous”.
“This opinion was written by this judge absolutely with appeal in mind. It’s meticulous,” Honig said. “[Engoron] goes through every property, every transaction, and he puts things in the appeal that he knows he cannot be reversed on. For example, assessing how credible a witness is. Did I believe this witness or not? That is uniquely up to the trial judge. You can’t be reversed on that. So, Donald Trump certainly will appeal. I think he’s got next to no chance of winning on it.”
