Former Whitewater lawyer Sol Wisenberg told Fox & Friends Weekend host Guy Benson on Saturday that Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision in Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud case was “political.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James in a lawsuit filed in September 2022 accused Trump, his two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, The Trump Organization and two firm executives, Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney of fraudulently overvaluing assets to secure more favorable bank loans and taxation deals.
On Friday, Engoron ruled that Trump will be fined roughly $355 million and be barred from doing business in New York for three years after a monthslong civil trial from late last year into early January. The trial was to decide the damages Trump would face after Engoron found that he committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets. The other defendants in the case have also faced financial penalties and have been barred from doing business in New York for periods of time.
Trump continues to maintain his innocence and claims that the case was politically motivated as he is the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race.
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“A $355 million disgorgement judgement when there is no victim and there is no loss, and there is no jury—here is the key here, you have….an attorney general of the state of New York that ran on a Get Trump platform,” Wisenberg said on Saturday. “She could not manufacture a criminal case, so she manufactured a civil fraud case, went to a jurisdiction where she got a Trump-hating judge who rendered this verdict…”
He added: “None of these DAs or AGs [in Trump’s cases] should have been involved in the case when they ran on a platform of getting Trump. How can you say that’s not political? How can you get any more political than that.”
Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise said the former president will appeal the judge’s ruling, telling Newsweek on Friday that Trump “remains confident the Appellate Division will ultimately correct the innumerable and catastrophic errors made by a trial court untethered to the law or to reality.”
The former president has also been indicted in four criminal cases on both the state and federal levels, all of which he has plead not guilty in.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign and the New York State Unified Court System via email for comment. It also reached out to James’ office via online form for comment.
Wisenberg served under Kenneth Starr during the Whitewater investigation in the early 1990s. During Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, a scandal erupted over financial contributions made by Clinton and his wife Hillary into the Whitewater Development Corporation while Clinton was an Arkansas elected official. The Clintons did not face charges for the Whitewater dealings.
On Friday, Trump reacted to Engoron’s ruling, writingon his social media platform Truth Social: “A Crooked New York State Judge, working with a totally Corrupt Attorney General who ran on the basis of ‘I will get Trump,’ before knowing anything about me or my company, has just fined me $355 Million based on nothing other than having built a GREAT COMPANY. ELECTION INTERFERENCE. WITCH HUNT.”
Meanwhile, James called the ruling “a massive victory” on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, adding that “no matter how big, how rich, or how powerful you are, no one is above the law. Not even Donald Trump.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.