Donald Trump's attorneys are arguing in court right now against bringing in his past legal cases and battles during the hush money criminal trial.
The former president is reacting in court as prosecutors bring up the allegations against him. Here's a look at the cases:
- Judgment in $355 million civil fraud order: Trump attorney Emil Bove said the prosecution should not be allowed to use Judge Arthur Engoron's $355 civil fraud judgment against Trump. Bove also argued that Engoron's ruling was subject to a preponderance of evidence standard, which is a lower standard than a criminal case. He said the charges in the civil fraud case are similar to the current case, and that the jury "may infer if it happened before Justice Engoron" under a different evidentiary standard, then they could believe "that it also happened beyond a reasonable doubt in this case."
- October 2023 gag order: Bove also objected to Engoron's finding that Trump violated his gag order in October 2023, saying the team is concerned about introducing different standards of proof and confusing the jury. Trump was fined $10,000 after appearing to reference a court clerk in comments made outside the courtroom. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said prosecutors can seek to impeach a witness' credibility not just through criminal acts but also through "any prior immoral, vicious, illegal, and bad act conduct," arguing that the violation of the gag order is relevant.
- E. Jean Carroll defamation case: Bove also argued against allowing prosecutors to question Trump about the Carroll defamation case, arguing that it requires consideration of events "we very much dispute" which date all the way back to the 1990s. Bove argued that to "bring up Ms. Carroll's allegation at this trial pushes the salaciousness onto another level." Judge Juan Merchan asked, "Why don’t we not deal with the allegations then," and just consider the findings in the case. Bove said that still isn't acceptable. Colangelo argued that the Carroll trials deal with defamation from 2019 and 2022. "That's not remote," he said. Trump shook his head as Colangelo spoke about the former president defaming Carroll.
Bove also argued against including a lawsuit Trump filed against Hillary Clinton that was dismissed for being frivolous and in bad faith. Merchan questioned why that wouldn't be relevant for prosecutors to try to impeach Trump's credibility. "If that’s not Sandoval, I don’t know what is," Merchan says after reading some of the opinion criticizing Trump's frivolous lawsuit. Bove responds that there's a cascading effect of having multiple civil lawsuits that are still under appeal.