Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) recently slammed the fraud case former President Donald Trump is facing in New York and slammed the valuation of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate via Media Ite.
The former US President Donald Trump is facing a civil lawsuit that began on Monday. According to the Attorney General of New York, Letitia James, Trump is accused of providing false information about the value of his real estate assets to obtain $100 million. The lawsuit seeks to impose a $250 million penalty and a permanent ban on Trump and his two adult sons from running any businesses in the state.
The former president’s lawyers say their client did nothing wrong.
“He has made a fortune literally being right about real estate investments,” said Christopher Kise. “There was no intent to defraud, there was no illegality, there was no default, there was no breach, there was no reliance from the banks, there were no unjust profits, and there were no victims.”
Appearing on Monday’s Hannity, Graham was incensed.
“It’s a systematic effort to destroy Donald Trump as a political person,” he said. “His crime was he was a good conservative president. I’ve never seen hatred toward a political figure like I see against President Trump. The left will do anything to ruin his life, to keep him from being president again. And here’s the good news – if you’re a conservative – it’s not working.”
Sean Hannity said Trump’s actions were victimless.
“The banks got paid, the insurance companies got paid!” the host exclaimed. “And by the way, I should add, it says in the contract, don’t go by our valuations because [lenders] have a fiduciary responsibility to do their own fiscal valuations. You’re not gonna take the word of somebody that wants to borrow that kind of money. That’s insane.”
Graham responded by accusing James of performing a political hit job. He then turned his attention to Judge Arthur Engoron for allegedly valuing Mar-a-Lago at $18 million.
“The judge has ruled that President Trump committed fraud and nobody got defrauded!” he said. “The judge believes that Mar-a-Lago’s worth $18 million. What a friggin’ joke! Now, here’s what’s important to people watching this show. President Trump can’t be in Iowa and South Carolina and New Hampshire. But if you live in these states, you can help him by making sure that liberals do not get away with this. Vote for President Trump.”
As it is a civil trial, Trump’s presence was not required, but he chose to attend. The presidential candidate will, however, need to attend the criminal trials he is facing in four jurisdictions.
On Monday, Engoron requested that the media refrain from attributing the $18 million valuation to him. He explained that a Palm Beach County official had provided the estimate of the resort’s value, which ranged from $18 million to $27 million, and that he had no involvement in the process. Real estate specialists were confused by the official’s low valuation, even though it was inaccurate. In contrast, a Trump lawyer asserted that the actual value of Mar-a-Lago was approximately $1 billion.
Trump’s case is being decided by Engoron rather than a jury. According to some reports, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba forgot to request a jury trial instead of a bench trial. She strenuously denied the report on Monday night.
