Trump Lawyer: Officials Want to Keep Trump Off Campaign Trail More Than Winning in Court

A lawyer for former President Donald Trump claimed that officials are more concerned about keeping the former president off the campaign trail than they are concerned about winning their cases against him.

Chris Kise told Fox News on Monday evening that “the real threat to democracy is the willingness to abuse the power of your office to influence what should otherwise be a free and fair election.”

“And that’s exactly what’s going on downtown in the courtroom,” he said, referring to the Democrat Manhattan district attorney’s case against the former president. “Look at just this week. You’ve got a hearing in a civil case about essentially nothing. You’ve got a criminal trial starting. And later this week, there’ll be a Supreme Court argument. All in cases that were made up specifically for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election.”

The Trump attorney then alleged that it’s not clear if prosecutors targeting President Trump are concerned about winning their cases.

“I’m not even sure that they really care what the outcome was,” Mr. Kise said before he referred to a separate New York civil judgment against the former president. “We went downtown and had a hearing to determine that $175 million of President Trump’s cash that he posted, is actually worth $175 million.”

He added: “And a bond form that has been in use for 100 years in the state of New York is actually valid, but we wasted time, money, and resources. And I think that’s the goal. Let’s drain the president’s time. Let’s drain his focus. Let’s drain his resources. All while now President Biden is somehow magically out of the basement campaigning. He’s on the campaign.”

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Earlier this year, a New York judge, Arthur Engoron, ordered that President Trump and his real estate firm must pay more than $454 million after losing a court case brought by Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James, who alleged that he defrauded bankers and insurers by lying about his wealth. The former president and presumptive Republican nominee denies those claims and is appealing the judgment.

Speaking to reporters in the hallway outside President Trump’s separate criminal hush money trial, his attorney, Alina Habba, said Judge Engoron “doesn’t even understand basic principles of finance,” adding that on Monday, “We came to an agreement that everything would be the same. We would modify terms and that would be it.”

President Trump also criticized Judge Engoron, accusing him of not understanding the case. “He challenged the bonding company that maybe the bonding company was no good. Well, they’re good. And they also have $175 million dollars of collateral—my collateral,” he said.

Trial Continues

On Monday, opening arguments in the so-called “hush-money” case involving President Trump started, with defense attorneys arguing to the jury that they should find him innocent and that no crime was committed. Prosecutors contended that he falsified business records at the end of the 2016 campaign to squash negative stories about his personal life, which the former president has denied.

Last week, during the jury selection process, Judge Juan Merchan told President Trump that he must attend his trial every day it is in session, warning that “there will be an arrest” if he doesn’t. The former president, in response, called for the judge to remove the gag order against him and said it’s a form of election interference because he cannot campaign in key states before the 2024 election.

Referring to President Trump having to sit in a courtroom all day until his trial is over, Mr. Kise told Fox News on Monday that he believes “President Trump will withstand that toll because he’s an extraordinarily resilient individual. But it’s demonstrative of exactly what they want.”

“The Democrats have President Trump where they want him: Trump on trial, President Biden on the campaign trail. That’s what they’re looking to do. They’ve realized, you know, there’s two ways really to influence human behavior,” Mr. Kise continued. “You can inspire it, or you can manipulate it. President Trump inspires people.”

The Trump lawyer added: “But I think the Democrats have realized that President Biden isn’t going to inspire anyone. So now we have to manipulate the outcome. And that’s exactly what they’re doing. They’re using the weapon that they have, the power of these court cases. I mean, in 30 years, I’ve never seen any one defendant face multiple cases in multiple jurisdictions all at the same time.”

On Tuesday, the judge will hear arguments from the defense and prosecution regarding whether the aforementioned gag order can stay. Prosecutors have also sought to penalize the former president with fines for alleged violations that were made in recent days on Truth Social.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.