In what could be described as a rather tumultuous day for Donald Trump’s legal team, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron levied a harsh critique against the defense counsel, resulting in a fine of $75,000. This sanction, administered against attorneys Chris Kise, Michael Madaio, Clifford Robert, Michael Farina, and Armen Morian, is seen to express the court’s exhaustion after four years of engaging with the legal tactics deployed by Trump’s lawyers.
Since 2020, the legal team has continually filed objections as Trump’s family and business failed to comply with subpoenas and avoided providing their testimony. These actions have ended up costing their client up to $11,000 in contempt of court fines. In a noteworthy attempt, they even sought to have a federal judge obstruct the Attorney General’s investigative attempts, a move that was promptly dismissed by Judge Brenda Sannes.
In response to the indictment, Trump’s lawyers moved to have the case reassigned to the Commercial Division, proposing that the investigation and eventual prosecution were completely unrelated, amidst repeated attempts to claim the Attorney General’s lack of authority to initiate an enforcement action. However, they blatantly ignored a warning issued by the court in January cautioning against repeating their already-rejected arguments, which were already treading on the line of being considered frivolous.
Justice Engoron expressed his outrage over their conduct saying, “Defendants conduct in reiterating these frivolous arguments is egregious.” He further added that they were held accountable “for intentional and blatant disregard of controlling authority and law”.
In what could be seen as a strategic misstep, Trump’s lawyers continued to inundate the judge which in turn yielded the aforementioned situation. Furthermore, an attempt by Trump to deflect scrutiny of his assets by suing Attorney General Letitia James in a Florida state court further complicated matters.
In Justice Engoron’s view, the only way to convey to Trump’s lawyers the consequences of their actions was through sanctions, irrespective of whether the lawyers were acting on Trump’s orders or on their own accord. He stressed the ethical obligation on the part of the lawyers to withdraw their baseless claims once advised by the Supreme Court. Regretfully, the resounding impact of these sanctions reflects poorly on the legal team, especially Chris Kise who was once Florida’s Solicitor General and is now part of Trump’s defense team.
Following these developments, Republican strategist Rick Wilson’s statement that everything Trump touches eventually ‘dies’, now holds a chilling resonance for Trump’s lawyers.