Today's recap
The last day of Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial set off a frenzy in New York on Thursday morning, with a bomb squad called to the home of the judge overseeing the case and crowds of reporters and spectators packing the courtroom to see the trial’s end.
Thursday was the last chance for Trump’s team to make an appeal to Judge Arthur Engoron, who will decide whether Trump will be fined as much as $370m for falsifying financial statements to inflate his net worth.
Before the hearing, police in Nassau county on Long Island said they responded to a security incident at Engoron’s residence at 5.30am. Engoron and his staff have been frequent targets of vitriolic criticism from Trump throughout the case, and his office has been bombarded with death threats.
After sitting quietly during his attorneys’ closing arguments, the former president launched into a rant. Trump insisted that he was persecuted by “someone running for office”, referring to Letitia James, the New York attorney general who brought the case against him.
A small group of anti-Trump protesters briefly blocked traffic in front of the courthouse holding a banner and chanting “No dictators in the USA!”
Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise called the case “insane” and said James was prosecuting a “victimless” offense.
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Judge Arthur Engoron says he intends to release his decision by the end of the month.
– Dominic Rushe and Lauren Aratani in New York
Updated
“I will do my best and I hope to issue a final decision in this case by January 31,” said Judge Arthur Engoron. “Not a promise. Not a guarantee. But I’m reasonably confident I’ll be able to do that.”
Here’s a review of how the day unfolded:
Updated
