Former President Donald Trump received a check on his quest to challenge his $464 million civil fraud ruling Friday by an exasperated lawyer who accused him going on a "fishing expedition."
Trump has sought to yank Justice Arthur Engoron from the New York City case — in which he was found liable of defrauding investors by falsely inflating Trump Organization assets — by arguing the judge had inappropriate conversations with lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey, court records show.
On Thursday, Bailey's own lawyer John Desiderio filed a motion to quash a subpoena demanding his client hand over a slew of documents to Trump.
"Defendants' admitted search for 'any pattern' of communication between Mr. Bailey and this Court confirms that Subpoena Demand No. 2 is the 'fishing expedition,'" writes Desiderio.
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"[The subpoena] should be quashed, conditioned or modified"
Bailey has claimed in interviews with WNBC that he spoke with Engoron about the law involved in the case three weeks before Trump was slapped with the massive penalty in February. Bailey says Trump was not mentioned by name.
Trump's legal team then argued Bailey’s comments raised questions about improper influence on Engoron, an argument to which New York City Attorney General Letitia James responded in court filings, "None of this amounts to a hill of beans."
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Professor Bruce Green, of Fordham Law School's Center for Law and Ethics, told WNBC there is no rule barring Engoron from discussing the law in the abstract so long as he doesn't get into the specific details.
"Judges don't have to live in a bubble,” Green told the outlet. "Whether a judge's hallway conversation with a lawyer is permissible or impermissible depends on the conversation."
Desiderio's motion was swiftly met with a counter from an attorney for Allen Weisselberg, the former Trump Organization CFO sentenced to five months in prison for perjury charges linked to New York Attorney General Letitia James' case.
"Mr. Weisselberg respectfully requests that the Court deny the Motion to Quash in its entirety and grant any such other and further relief as it may think proper," wrote attorney Armen Morian.
