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An appeals court has rejected Donald Trump's bid to delay a civil trial in a lawsuit brought by New York's attorney-general, allowing the case to proceed days after another judge ruled the former US president committed years of fraud and stripped him of some companies as punishment.
- Donald Trump is listed among dozens of possible witnesses, setting up a potential courtroom showdown with the judge
- An appeals court rejected his request to delay the trial
- It could force the former US president to hand over prized New York real estate
The decision, by the state's intermediate appellate court, clears the way for Judge Arthur Engoron to preside over a non-jury trial starting on Monday in Manhattan in New York Attorney-General Letitia James's civil lawsuit.
Mr Trump and his family business were found liable by a New York judge in Ms James's civil lawsuit, accusing the former US president of illegally inflating his assets and net worth.
The decision was issued by Judge Engoron of the New York state court in Manhattan.
The case is one of three civil cases Mr Trump is facing, in addition to four criminal cases that are underway.
Mr Trump is listed among dozens of possible witnesses, setting up a potential courtroom showdown with the judge.
The fraud ruling threatens to up-end his real estate empire and force him to give up prized New York properties such as Trump Tower, a Wall Street office building, golf courses and a suburban estate.
Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing, arguing that some of his assets are worth far more than what's listed on annual financial statements that Judge Engoron said he used to secure loans and make deals.
"These cases take many years to get to trial," Mr Trump wrote on Wednesday in a post on his Truth Social platform.
"My Political Witch Hunt case is actually scheduled to start on Monday. Nobody can believe it? This is a 'Railroading' job, pushed hard by the Radical Left DOJ for purposing Election Interference. A very SAD time for New York State, and America!"
Mr Trump's lawyers first sought to delay the trial before the judge's ruling, but said the decision only bolstered their claims that the judge was abusing his authority.
Mr Trump's lawyers sued Judge Engoron on September 14, accusing him of ignoring the law and hindering their preparations by failing to comply with a June appeals court order that he narrow the scope of the trial based on the statute of limitations.
They filed the lawsuit under a provision known as Article 78, which allows challenges to some judicial decisions, and asked that the trial be postponed until that matter was resolved.
An appeals court judge, David Friedman, granted an interim stay of the trial while the full appeals court considered the lawsuit on an expedited basis.
Thursday's ruling lifted the stay, allowing the trial to proceed as scheduled.
The appeals court did not rule on the defence's underlying complaints about Judge Engoron.
Through a court lawyer, Judge Engoron declined to participate in the appeals court process.
Other proceedings in the case went on while the panel mulled a delay.
LoadingJudge Engoron, ruling Tuesday in a phase of the case known as summary judgement, found that Mr Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, defrauded banks, insurers and others with annual financial statements that massively overvalued his assets and exaggerated his wealth.
Judge Engoron ordered some of Mr Trump's companies removed from his control and dissolved.
Ms James alleges Mr Trump boosted his net worth by as much as $US3.6 billion ($5.58 billion).
Mr Trump's lawyers, in a letter to the appeals court, said Judge Engoron's 35-page decision showed he remained intent on defying the appeals court by ignoring the statute of limitations issue.
Judge Engoron refused to dismiss any claims and based his fraud ruling partly on stale allegations that should've been thrown out, Mr Trump's lawyer Clifford Robert wrote.
Ms James's office argued Mr Trump's lawsuit against Judge Engoron was a "brazen and meritless attempt" to usurp his authority and that any delay "would likely wreak havoc on the trial schedule" and could cause conflicts with Mr Trump's four pending criminal cases.
The civil trial is the culmination of a years-long investigation by Ms James's office that saw Mr Trump questioned under oath and millions of pages of documents change hands.
It could take three months.
AP