Trump Says Letitia James Has ‘Defrauded The Public,’ Rips $18 Million Mar-A-Lago Valuation
Harold Hutchison on October 17, 2023
Former President Donald Trump blasted Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of New York over his civil trial, accusing her of “defrauding the public.”
Judge Arthur F. Engoron ruled that Trump was liable for fraud on Sept. 26, and ordered that several business licenses Trump held were to be rescinded; an executive for Deutsche Bank testified on Tuesday that the loans were a “good credit decision,” according to ABC News. “As you know, the head of Deutsche Bank recently testified, just testified, and he said that Trump did nothing wrong,” Trump told members of the press during a break in the trial.
“We made a loan, we were very happy with the loan, we got paid back, there was nothing false. It was a very good transaction and we would do it again. He was a very powerful witness, and we have other executives coming in from banks that will say the same thing.”
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During her 2018 campaign for attorney general, James made multiple statements about targeting Trump with legal action and called him an “illegitimate” president.
“This is a disgraceful situation. This is an attorney general, Letitia, that went out and campaigned on, ‘I will get Trump no matter what. I will get Trump. I promise I’ll get him,’” Trump continued. “We have new tapes out there now that have come out since the trial because people took tapes of her because they couldn’t believe her ranting and raving like a lunatic. But this is the attorney general of New York state, Letitia James, and she shouldn’t be allowed to be attorney general. She’s defrauded the public with this trial.”
“She said that Mar-a-Lago, she convinced the judge that Mar-a-Lago was worth — in Palm Beach, Florida, the most expensive land in the world, I guess, and the most expensive houses, definitely, in the world — that Mar-a-Lago’s biggest house, the most spectacular place in all of Florida was worth $18 million when it’s worth approximately — could be close to hundred times that amount,” Trump said. “And based on that testimony and based on her convincing the judge that Mar-a-Lago was worth $18 million instead of $1 billion to $1.5 billion, which would sell very easily, which we’ve already proven but we’ll have people come up and say that to prove it, the most important people, the brokers that make the sale, but based on that he ruled against me, he ruled fraud. I mean, he said fraud.”
One real estate expert told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the value of the estate owned by Trump was over $100 million, while multiple real estate listings for properties much smaller than Mar-a-Lago were listed for prices much higher than the $18 million valuation Engoron cited in his ruling. Forbes magazine estimated the estate to be worth about $325 million, more than 15 times the $18 million tax appraisal Engoron cited.
“So I just want to say the head of Deutsche Bank came in, he said we were right, the loan was right, everything was fine and it was perfect. And this was their witness, it wasn’t even my witness,” Trump said.
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