New twist in New York civil fraud verdict against Donald Trump
When Judge Arthur Engoron announced a few weeks ago that he was aiming for January 31st for announcing the verdict in Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud trial, it was just a best guess on his part, not an official deadline. When January 31st came and went yesterday without a verdict, it didn’t mean anything was wrong. And now we’re getting new information.
The court has announced to the media that the verdict is now expected “early to mid-February.” Some media outlets are already changing that to “mid-February” so they can fire up the doomsday ratings machine about how everything is supposedly falling behind. But the actual timeframe being stated is indeed “early to mid-February,” and it’s worth keeping in mind that “early February” is right now.
In other words, the verdict could come any day now, theoretically any time between tomorrow and whatever you think the end of mid-February is. But the precise timing doesn’t matter. And while it hasn’t been officially stated, the most likely reason for the delay is the court appointed monitor’s recently filed report about ongoing financial shenanigans within the Trump Organization. The Judge is likely assessing this report to determine if it’s a basis for even bigger penalties.
In any case, stay tuned. Remember, the court system isn’t a reality show. Judges aren’t TV hosts. While these matters are very important to the public, they’re not meant for the public’s entertainment. Trump will get a financial wrecking ball dropped on him soon enough, presumably somewhere between one and fourteen days from now. Until then he’s just going to have to sweat it.
