A judge denied Trump's unusual request to make his own closing arguments in his NY fraud trial, citing his failure to agree to "reasonable, lawful limits."
Seth Wenig/AP
The judge in Donald Trump's New York fraud trial on Wednesday denied the former president's unusual request to be allowed to help deliver his own closing arguments on Thursday.
Trump failed to meet a noon deadline to agree to what limitations would be in place were he to directly face the judge in the three-month-old non-jury trial, and make his final arguments against a potentially business-empire-crippling verdict.
Trump had asked to contribute to his attorneys' closing arguments by making a short, personal statement.
By end of morning Wednesday, Trump's side had missed repeated deadline extensions for agreeing to limitations on what he could and could not say, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron told the parties by email shortly after 12 noon.
Under New York civil practice law, in making closing arguments Trump would have to be bound by the same limitations as any lawyer or pro-se defendant.
Trump was hardly a model of discipline in depositions and testimony at the trial, at which the New York attorney general's office alleges he inflated his wealth by billions of dollars in fraudulent net-worth statements issued to banks and insurers.
Both his April pre-trial deposition and his November testimony were loaded with tangents and personal attacks.
But in closing arguments, he would only have been able to talk about what he believes the evidence in the three-month-long trial has proven, what it failed to prove, and what a just verdict would be.
News of Trump wanting to deliver his own closing arguments was first reported Tuesday by ABC News.
Trump attorney Alina Habba and her spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on the former president's unusual request.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Letitia James declined to comment.
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