Donald Trump’s business peers, political allies, former impeachment lawyer and others have flooded New York’s appellate court with support in an attempt to overturn the historic half-billion-dollar judgment against him for bank fraud — with arguments all centering on a basic premise: Maybe he lied, but it doesn’t matter.
The group is a MAGA catchall, with a list ranging from Gun Owners of America to the attorney general of South Carolina, each with a slightly different take on why it was unfair to subject Trump to a 12-week civil trial that documented how he routinely inflated his net worth to snag better bank loans and insurance policies. Justice Arthur F. Engoron, a state judge, wrote a sweeping decision ordering Trump and his co-defendants to pay a whopping $464 million judgment that ticks even higher with interest.
Now that the judgment is on appeal, his allies are treating his civil fraud case like a philosophical battle before the U.S. Supreme Court, filing amicus briefs that question the constitutionality of his punishment and even warn of a total regional economic collapse.