Trump hit with mega fine in fraud case

Judge Arthur Engoron handed down a $355 million judgment against former president Donald Trump in his civil real estate fraud case in New York. Engoron held that Trump inflated the value of his assets in obtaining bank loans.

The case seemed doomed from the start for the former president as Engoron, before the trial began, accepted a valuation that determined Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort was only worth $18 million. This was a laughably absurd assertion, as Mar-a-Lago sits on wildly attractive oceanfront property in Palm Beach, Florida — the land value alone would be worth far more than $18 million. 

Later on in the trial, Trump’s bank associates testified that they were not the victims of any fraud as they conducted their own assessment of Trump’s properties before granting him loans and were happy with their deals. All of the loans were repaid in full. 

In addition to the fine, Trump is banned from doing business in New York for three years.

It’s a stunning but not surprising judgment given Engoron’s apparent bias. As left-wing commentators demanded Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from a case regarding Trump’s ballot access in Colorado because of his wife’s political views, they had little to say about Engoron’s wife’s viral anti-Trump social media posts.

Trump allies are speaking out against the judgment; even independent observers are raising concerns about what it means for business owners, particularly those in real estate. After all, real estate valuations can fluctuate quite wildly in short periods of time depending on market forces and who is assessing the property. Kevin O’Leary, the Canadian businessman and investor who stars on the show Shark Tank, told CNN that Trump did what every real estate developer does in trying to get the highest possible valuations on his properties. Others have pointed out that Engoron seems confused on the difference between market and assessed values. Ann Coulter, the political commentator who was an early Trump adopter but has long since left the MAGA movement, wrote, “This is a ridiculous B.S. case that never would have been brought against anyone but Trump. Why do you keep making me defend this guy, liberals?”

It’s expected that Trump will appeal the decision and seek a stay to avoid paying his fine pending continued litigation. 

-Amber Duke

On our radar

RIP ALEXEI NAVALNY Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died Friday morning in prison. The Russian Federal Prison Service says Navalny, who was jailed for exposing Putin’s corruption, “felt unwell” after a walk and “lost consciousness.”

ROSENDALE OUT Republican congressman Matt Rosendale dropped his bid for US Senate a mere six days after announcing his campaign. Former president Donald Trump endorsed his opponent, Tim Sheehy, hours after Rosendale’s campaign launch last Friday. 

FULTON FOLLIES Fulton County DA Fani Willis testified Thursday about allegations that she personally benefited from appointing her paramour to investigate Trump. She seemed to admit to campaign finance violations during her testimony. 

GOP undeterred by anti-Biden source’s indictment

Love was not in the air on Valentine’s Day for Alexander Smirnov, one of the Republican Party’s top witnesses in its quest to impeach President Joe Biden in connection with his son’s business dealings.

Special counsel David Weiss, who has brought charges against Hunter Biden, indicted Smirnov. He is alleged by the Department of Justice to have “provided false derogatory information to the FBI” about Joe and Hunter Biden. The biggest bombshell Smirnov had provided was that Burisma, the infamous Ukrainian energy company, had paid the now-president and his son millions of dollars in a bribery scheme. The indictment says Smirnov made up the allegations in the course of his duties as a confidential informant. 

Unsurprisingly, Democrats are elated. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, celebrated that “Special Counsel Weiss’s investigation is just the most recent to debunk the Ukraine-Burisma conspiracy theory at the heart of this fraudulent impeachment inquiry.”

The GOP is still in impeachment mode, however. “Nothing has changed. We have plenty of evidence that shows impeachable conduct,” House Judiciary Committee spokesman Russell Dye told The Spectator. Oversight chairman James Comer said that his efforts to impeach Biden are “based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony, revealing that Joe Biden knew of and participated in his family’s business dealings.”

James Biden, Joe’s brother, will be coming to Congress in the coming days, and Hunter will soon sit for a deposition after moves to hold him in contempt stalled last month.

–Matthew Foldi

DC recall effort marches on

For most political professionals in DC, their day jobs in national politics take priority over local political issues — but not anymore. 

There have long been rumblings of a move to recall DC councilman Charles Allen, the leading proponent of legislation that a coalition of Democrats and Republicans believes is a gift to the city’s criminals. Last night, the bipartisan coalition to Recall Charles Allen met together for the first time, just inside Ward 6, who Allen is supposed to represent.

Allen is the specific target of the group’s ire because of his years-long effort to reduce funding to the DC Police Department and his many criminal justice reform bills that have been approved by the DC city council. A 2020 proposal of his, made at the height of the Summer of Love, would have cut “a little over $6 million in vacant jobs, a proposed $2 million expansion of the police cadet program, and roughly $900,000 in funds for travel, ballistic shields and other expenses.” And yet, despite Allen’s crusade against cops, crime has shockingly not vanished.

In 2023, DC saw a massive spike in both highly-publicized instances of crime, and a 39 percent rise in violent crime overall. One DC native spoke about how her mother had been carjacked at gunpoint, only for the car to be found later. They never found the kids who stole it.

Another recall organizer asked the crowd of about 100 people to raise their hand if anyone has been carjacked or knew someone who had been carjacked; much of the crowd raised their hand. The crowd was then asked to raise their hands if they or someone they knew have had a package stolen off their front porch; by that point, all hands were raised.

The recall effort kicks off a year after the DC Council passed its controversial soft-on-crime bill, which was ultimately rebuked by Congress in a rare moment where they waded into DC governance. 

–Cockburn