The judge who found Donald Trump liable for fraud and ordered the former president to pay $454 million said he will not recuse himself from the case.
Trump asked Judge Arthur Engoron to step aside from the case, which is on appeal, alleging he engaged in “prohibited communications” with a real estate lawyer about the case before his decision was rendered earlier this year.
“I am supremely confident in my ability to continue to serve, as I always have, impartially,” Engoron wrote in an order Thursday. The judge said that over three years into the litigation, his recusal would result in “immense prejudice.”
Trump’s lawyers asked for the recusal after NBC published an interview with real estate attorney Adam Bailey the day the verdict was rendered. According to the article, Bailey said he “had the ability to speak to [this Court] three weeks ago…I saw him in the corner [at the courthouse] and I told my client, ‘I need to go.’ And I walked over and we started talking … I wanted him to know what I think [about the case] and why … I really want him to get it right.”
Bailey told CNN that he only spoke with Engoron about his September summary judgment decision “because that’s the only thing I discussed with reporters.” NBC said it stood by its story.
Engoron in Thursday’s ruling said he was “accosted” by Bailey while leaving the courthouse one day in February.
The judge described the “90-second incident” was a “nothingburger” from a “landlord-tenant lawyer ranting” and said that he did not base any part of his rulings on what Bailey said.
“I did not initiate, welcome, encourage, engage in, or learn from much less enjoy, Bailey’s tirade. I did not base any part of any of my rulings on it, as Bailey has outlandishly, mistakenly, and defamatorily claimed,” Engoron wrote.
The judge also said he was unaware of any investigation by the Commission on Judicial Conduct saying he has not been contacted by the review group.
