(Tribune News Service) — Donald Trump is seeking a mistrial in New York state’s $250 million civil fraud lawsuit, alleging the judge and his law clerk have tainted the proceedings with rampant political bias.

The long-shot request, filed Wednesday in Manhattan, is the latest clash between Trump’s legal team and Justice Arthur Engoron, who ultimately will decide the case. The judge has already issued a gag order against the former president and his lawyers over comments about the law clerk, who has no authority in the case. Trump has been fined a total of $15,000 for twice violating the order.

“This Court has also impermissibly exceeded its discretion in granting his Principal Law Clerk unprecedented status and input into these proceedings and restricted the speech of anyone who seeks to comment on this status, input and/or perceived partisan bias,” Trump’s lawyers said in the filing.

The motion is the latest twist in the trial of a lawsuit filed last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who alleges Trump inflated the value of his assets by as much as $3.6 billion to get better terms from banks and insurers. It’s one of six Trump is facing as he seeks to return to the White House in 2024. He denies wrongdoing in all the cases, claiming they’re part of a “witch hunt.”

Engoron has frequently defended the way he works with his law clerk, telling Trump’s lawyers during the trial that he has an absolute right to communicate with her and receive advice, while adding that all decisions are made by him alone. But that hasn’t swayed Trump’s lawyers, who call the relationship “improper” in their mistrial request.

The once-obscure judicial aide was first thrust into the spotlight last month when Trump posted an image of her online and falsely accused her of dating Democratic U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer. The incident resulted in an Oct. 3 gag order barring him from discussing the clerk publicly.

‘Inappropriate latitude’

The judge has “allowed his Principal Law Clerk to preside on the bench with him to his right-hand side,” the defense team said in the Wednesday filing. It includes photographs of Engoron and the clerk seated at the bench, which Trump lawyers say shows she “is given unprecedented and inappropriate latitude.”

“At a minimum, the appearance of ‘co-judging’ is manifest, and the public (and litigants) may conclude fairly that an unelected staff member has, as is evident from the above images, a direct role in presiding over the trial,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in the filing.

The mistrial motion will ultimately be decided by Engoron, who has already blasted Trump and his lawyers for complaining about his law clerk, at one point saying it smacked of possible misogyny. It’s likely the motion is tailored for review by an appeals court.

James, in a statement, called the mistrial motion another effort by Trump to distract from the strength of the case.

“Once again, Donald Trump is trying to dismiss the truth and the facts, but the numbers and evidence don’t lie,” the attorney general said. “Donald Trump is now being held accountable for the years of fraud he committed and the incredible ways he lied to enrich himself and his family.”

Court history

While the state’s lawsuit was filed in September 2022, Trump’s lawyers have been familiar with Engoron and his law clerk since early 2019, when James sued to enforce subpoenas as part of her probe into the former president’s assets. Engoron, with the law clerk sitting by his side, frequently ruled against Trump and his company during that time, and the clerk frequently asked the former president’s lawyers pointed questions from the bench while giving the judge advice on the law.

Trump’s animosity toward the law clerk boiled over one day after the trial began Oct. 2. When Trump’s post on his Truth Social platform was discovered by the court, Engoron held a sealed hearing before issuing the gag order. “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable and inappropriate,” the judge said at the time. “I will not allow it under any circumstances.”

Trump deleted the post. But defense lawyers Habba and Christopher Kise began to make intermittent remarks about the clerk in open court as the trial progressed, with Kise making comments each time the clerk passed a note to Engoron and Habba accusing her of rolling her eyes from the bench.

Since then, the former president has been fined for inadvertently leaving the deleted post about the clerk up on his website and again when he allegedly made a thinly veiled comment about the clerk to the press outside court, without naming her. More recently, the judge expanded the gag order to cover Trump’s lawyers, barring them from commenting on the clerk’s note-passing, which Engoron forcefully defended.

Engoron said his rulings are necessary to protect his staff amid a flood of threatening and harassing emails and voice mails over the trial.

The state wrapped up its part of the trial on Wednesday, when Ivanka Trump testified as the last state witness. The defense will begin presenting its case on Monday, with Trump and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, both of whom testified earlier, returning to the witness stand.

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