Jonathan Turley, a contributor for FOX News and a law professor at Georgetown University, strongly criticized the ruling that imposed significant fines on former President Donald Trump and his sons for fraud in a civil trial in New York. The verdict, delivered by Judge Engoron last Friday, resulted in fines totaling $364 million for the former president and his sons. Additionally, former President Trump was prohibited from serving as an officer in his business for three years, while his sons were banned for two years each. Turley vehemently denounced the decision while speaking on Fox News.
“Well, this court really proved Oscar Wilde’s rule that ‘The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.’ Because the court has done everything short of ordering that Trump be thrown into a wood chipper. He’s imposed almost the maximum amount that James requested. He’s barring him from doing business in the city where he’s an iconic business figure, barring him from getting loans,” the professor began.
“The last part is particularly ironic because the banks not only said that they were not victims and did not complain about the alleged fraud, but they said that they wanted to do more business with Trump. They described him as a ‘whale’ client. So this is all being done essentially in their name as victims, even though no one lost any money,” he said.
“None of us could find a case like this. Yet, the first one, you have this fortune that is being demanded by the court to be turned over. I think there are real problems here. I think that this is going to have the same impact on some appellate judges. There have to be some limits, including Constitutional limits on the size of penalties, this is confiscatory and in my view, just excessive.
“You know, I think there’s a major appeal obviously that will come. I was hoping the court would defy its critics and show a more moderate response. To show that yes, there were assets that were undervalued and overvalued, but to impose a more reasonable fine,” he said.
WATCH:
GWU law professor Jonathan Turley nails it with his description of just how unjust the civil fraud ruling – fine and business ban – against Trump really is. pic.twitter.com/utv5rxCKoJ
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) February 17, 2024
