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'He thought he was gonna go home': Internet trolls Donald Trump as judge rejects his mistrial request in $250M New York fraud case

The process of dissolving Trump’s business entities has been temporarily paused by an appeals court

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron denied a request by Donald Trump’s lawyers for a mistrial in the $250 million civil business fraud case against the former President and his co-defendants.

Engoron has already found the defendants liable for fraud and ordered the cancellation of their New York business certificates, in a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of fraudulently inflating the values of Trump’s real estate properties and other assets for years.

The trial is being conducted without a jury and is yet to determine penalties and resolve James’ other claims of wrongdoing by the Trumps and The Trump Organization.

The process of dissolving Trump’s business entities has been temporarily paused by an appeals court, reported CNBC.

Which were the actions cited by Trump's lawyers as displaying bias?

The defense lawyers argued that Engoron and his principal law clerk have "tainted these proceedings" and asserted that "only the grant of a mistrial can salvage what is left of the rule of law."

They cited the judge's contributions to his high school alumni newsletter, in which he included links to news articles referencing the Trump case, and his clerk, Allison Greenfield’s record of political donations to make their case.

Referring to a conservative media article, Trump's lawyers claimed that Greenfield had violated a court ethics rule by contributing more than $500 in political donations per year to Democratic causes.

What did Judge Arthur Engoron rule in the appeal for mistrial?

In a four-page ruling, Ergoron said that he began publishing the newsletter after co-founding his high school alumni association in 2007.

In that space, he consistently includes links to articles featuring graduates of the school, including himself, without having authored or contributed to the articles directly.

"None of this has anything to do with, much less does it interfere with, my presiding fairly, impartially, and professionally over the instant dispute, which I have now been doing for more than three years, and which I intend to do until its conclusion,” the judge stated.

In Greenfield's case, Engoron acknowledged that clerks are restricted from surpassing $500 in annual political donations. However, as Greenfield is a candidate for a New York judgeship, she is governed by a separate set of guidelines.

Engoron cited a guideline that exempts a candidate's contributions to their own campaign and doesn't restrict ticket purchases to political functions.

He stated, "When deducting the price of tickets to political functions that my Principal Law Clerk attended from all the contributions to which the defendants cite, the remainder is still well below the ethical and legal permissible annual limit."

Donald Trump faces trolling by the netizens

The internet swiftly mocked the former President, as evident from the following tweets.

A user shared a meme depicting Trump as a crybaby with the caption, "Just wait for it."

"😂😂😂😂🤣 he thought he was gonna go home 🤣🤣🤣🤣" wrote a user.

A GIF mocking Trump displayed the caption, "MOTION DENIED, B***H."

"I'm loving all these Friday decisions," tweeted another.

"Shocking," wrote a user accompanied by a sarcastic Garfield image.