Donald Trump defies judge, gives courtroom speech on tense final day of New York civil fraud trial

Donald Trump defies judge's rules, delivers a six-minute speech in court during his New York civil fraud trial.

Barred from giving a formal closing argument, Donald Trump still seized an opportunity to speak in court at the conclusion of his New York civil fraud trial Thursday, unleashing a barrage of attacks in a six-minute speech before being cut off by the judge.

Mr. Trump spoke as the judge was trying to find out if the former president would follow rules requiring him to keep his remarks focused on matters related to the trial. Asked whether he would comply with the guidelines, Mr. Trump defied the judge and launched into his speech.

“We have a situation where I am an innocent man,” Mr. Trump protested. “I’m being persecuted by someone running for office and I think you have to go outside the bounds.”

Judge Arthur Engoron — who had denied Mr. Trump permission earlier to give a closing statement at the trial — let him continue almost entirely uninterrupted for what amounted to a brief personal summation, then cut him off and recessed for lunch.

Mr. Trump, the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly disparaged Mr. Engoron, accusing him in a social media post Wednesday night of working closely with the New York attorney general “to screw me.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Engoron had nixed an unusual plan by Mr. Trump to deliver his own closing remarks in the courtroom, in addition to summations from his legal team, after lawyers for the former president would not agree to the judge’s demand that he stick to “relevant” matters.”

After two of Mr. Trump's lawyers had delivered traditional closing arguments Thursday, one of them, Christopher Kise, asked the judge again whether Mr. Trump could speak. Mr. Engoron asked Mr. Trump whether he would abide by the guidelines he had laid out earlier, which included not trying to introduce new evidence or making a campaign speech.