Appeals court grills Trump lawyers fighting the New York business fraud ruling

 Lawyers for Donald Trump and the New York attorney general’s office were peppered by a New York appeals court over whether the $454 civil fraud judgement should stand.

A lawyer for the former president argued that the judgment should be thrown out because most of the conduct was too old.

“This case involves a clear-cut violation of the statute of limitations and the law of case doctrine,” Trump lawyer John Sauer argued before five appellate court judges. Sauer pointed to a ruling by this court before the 2023 trial that drew lines around what conduct was too old to be considered and dismissed Ivanka Trump as a defendant.

“There’s a direct contradiction, a direct disregard of this court’s prior opinion,” Sauer argued.

All five of the judges interrupted to pose questions, including digging in on whether Trump’s team was trying to curtail the attorney general’s authority to bring cases about “persistent” and “repeated” fraud.

Presiding Justice Diane Renwick asked, “Why isn’t the language of the statute here” repeated and persistent fraud, “why doesn’t that define the scope of the statute. Why do we need to go to harm?”

Sauer said, “We have a situation where there were no victims, no complaints, no evidence of materiality or reliance.” He said the lenders “did do their due diligence.”

Sauer said he was not asking for a ruling about the scope of the state’s authority, merely a reversal of the claims in this case.

Justice Moulton asked Trump’s attorney what about deterrence to others in the marketplace.

He said it may be fine, “but in the future some deal might not go down well and someone may be harmed by that.”

Remember: This is one of several legal challenges the former president faces while running again for president.