(RepublicanJournal.org) – Donald Trump is under sustained attack in the courts, but he isn’t letting it get him down. Recently, a New York judge ruled that the former president had committed fraud by overstating what several of his assets are worth –- including his famous Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Now Trump has blasted back, calling the judge “DERANGED.”
New York’s Democratic Attorney General Letitia James is pursuing Trump through a civil fraud case, and the trial is due to start on October 2. James has decided she wants the process to go as fast as possible, and she’s come up with an interesting way to ensure that – getting a court to decide Trump’s guilt before the trial even begins.
On September 26, New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, whom James had asked to decide on the key charges against the former president, ruled that he had systematically inflated the value of his assets to get better terms on financial deals. One of Engoron’s most surprising findings was that Trump had inflated the value of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, by an astonishing 2,300%. He ruled that the property, which Trump bought for $10 million in 1985, is now worth $18 million.
This decision has surprised Florida realtors. One Palm Beach assessor pointed out that a two-acre wooded lot just a couple of miles away is currently for sale at $150 million; Mar-a-Lago is 20 acres and has a 128-room resort and golf course. Forbes valued it at $160 million five years ago; it’s unclear why a New York judge thinks it’s worth barely over a tenth of that now.
Trump certainly isn’t accepting the valuation. In a statement, he blasted AG James –- “completely biased and corrupt” –- and the “Highly Politicized Democrat Judge” for what he called a violation of his civil rights. He’s calling for an appeal court to reverse Engoron’s “horrible, un-American decision.”
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