Donald Trump, who will be present at his New York civil fraud trial the following week, criticized the case on Friday while imploring supporters to donate to his 2024 presidential campaign before an important deadline.
According to two people briefed on Trump’s plans, he will fly to New York on Sunday evening and witness the first two days of the bench trial for a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday and Tuesday.
In a Friday email to his joint fundraising committee, the former Republican president claimed that a Democrat judge is currently attempting to destroy his family’s business. “After four bogus arrests, indictments, and even a mugshot failed to break me, a Democratic judge is now attempting to destroy my Family Business,” he wrote.
The email stated, “Democrats are endeavoring to bring down the renowned “Trump Tower” and inflict upon me what some are referring to as “the corporate death sentence.”
Trump’s campaign stated in other recent fundraising calls that it wanted to raise millions of dollars before the Federal Election Commission’s third-quarter deadline on Saturday in order to demonstrate its fortitude in the face of his escalating legal troubles.
During the preceding quarter, the campaign generated $35 million. Trump made his most recent donation appeal after Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron found Donald Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump Organization guilty of fraud for distorting the value of numerous real estate holdings, including his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Multiple Trump corporations’ New York state business licenses were revoked by Engoron in the same order, and he also announced that a receiver would be appointed to supervise their dissolution. Trump intends to appeal the ruling. The remaining six claims in James’ case will be discussed during the Monday trial.
James requests $250 million in damages and a court order prohibiting Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump from conducting business in the state in his complaint.
In addition to federal courts in Washington, D.C., and Florida, Trump has been indicted by state courts in New York and Georgia. In these instances, he pleaded not guilty.
In two of these instances, in Georgia and Washington, Trump is accused of committing felonies related to his efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 re-election loss.