Judge who ordered Trump to pay $454 million says he was 'accosted' by lawyer and won't recuse himself from case

Source: CNN

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.”

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-ordered-trump-pay-454-192337033.html