Trump’s $355M fine won’t hurt NY businesses that follow the law, Gov. Hochul says
NY Post
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday insisted that the massive $355 million fraud fine slapped against Donald Trump won’t scare away or hurt New York businesses — because most local merchants abide by the law.
“I understand [that the Trump ruling might make New York business people fearful], but this is really an extraordinarily unusual circumstance that the law-abiding, rule-following New Yorkers who are businesspeople have nothing to worry about because they’re very different from Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul said on the “Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 radio.
The New York governor added that she will not second-guess Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s determination of the size of the fine against the city’s most famous developer, nor should she.
“The governor of New York does not have a say in the size of a fine. And we want to make sure we don’t have that level of interference,” said Hochul — who has sometimes chided prosecutors and judges over enforcement of changes to the state’s controversial bail law.
“You do not want me as governor to be telling judges that I’m going to overrule their decisions. We need a clear separation of powers,” the governor added to host John Catsimatidis, a city supermarket billionaire who raised concerns that the Trump decision could chill commerce in the Big Apple.
Hochul noted that New York merchants “by and large are honest people” who follow the rules and the law and therefore have nothing to worry about.
