Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirshner predicted Saturday that a challenging start for former President Donald Trump’s New York legal team “is not going to get better.”
Trump’s legal team attended a contentious hearing this week before New York Attorney General Letitia James regarding the former president’s business dealings. At that hearing, Judge Arthur Ngolon expressed frustration with what he considered “bordering on frivolous” arguments from Trump’s lawyers and warned he would consider sanctions against the legal team.
The hearing was part of a lawsuit filed by James that accuses Trump of fraudulently inflating his net worth by billions of dollars between 2011 and 2021 to obtain benefits such as better bank loans and a smaller tax bill. The case will be heard on October 2 and is currently under trial. It’s one of several legal battles the former president will face in the coming months. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case and accused James of targeting him for political purposes. At the same time, the former president is also a candidate in the 2024 Republican primary, hoping to take on President Joe Biden next November.
Following the contentious hearing, MSNBC legal analyst Kirschner, a frequent Trump critic, weighed in on the rest of the case during an appearance on the network Saturday morning. There may have been a dire assessment of the consequences for the former president.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
“Judge Ngolon has accused Trump’s defense attorneys of talking nonsense every time,” he said. “And I don’t think they’re going to get any better moving forward.”
Kirchner added that he believed N’Golon could find partial summary judgment in James’ case, meaning he could potentially decide on some of the charges instead of taking them to trial.
“He called the arguments ‘bordering on frivolous’. He is considering sanctions against Donald Trump’s lawyers,” he said. “I like this because Trump’s lawyers argued that in regards to Donald Trump exaggerating – grossly exaggerating – the value of his property, his lawyers said well, judge, that he was the one who was in a situation where others were not. A master of discovering the value of his property. Translation, my client is a master of the art of deception. I don’t think the hearing went down well for Trump.”
Weekly newspaper The Trump campaign was contacted for comment via email
Trump’s spokesman previously rejected Kirchner’s legal analysis, saying in a statement Weekly newspaper Kirchner is a “notorious trafficker of wild conspiracy theories and questionable legal analysis,” claiming he has “been shunned by the entire legal community.”
James is seeking up to $250 million in damages and a ban on Trump and his two children, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, from operating business in New York state. The former president’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, had James’ lawsuit dismissed in June because most of the allegations against her had expired.
