Judge refutes claims that 80% of Trump civil fraud case was dismissed | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read
275
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The claim: 80% of Donald Trump's civil fraud case was dismissed for violating the statute of limitations

An Oct. 2 post on X, formerly Twitter (direct link, archive link), includes a picture of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"BREAKING," reads part of the X post. "New York Attorney General Letitia James ... leaves the courtroom without granting any interview after losing 80 percent of the case against Trump on day one because she could not figure out what the statute of limitations was."

The post garnered more than 100 shares on Facebook in three days, according to CrowdTangle, a social media analytics tool. It was reposted on X more than 12,000 times. Similar versions of the claim have been shared on Instagram.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

The judge presiding over the trial said all claims are allowable under the statute of limitations. No part of the case has been dropped.

Judge refuted statute of limitations claims

A civil trial began on Oct. 2 to determine how much former President Donald Trump will be penalized after Judge Arthur Engoron ruled he committed fraud for years in New York while building his real estate empire.

Trump's lawyers argued that parts of the case should be thrown out because the statute of limitations had passed by the time Trump was indicted for the fraud.

After his first day in court, Trump reiterated this claim and told reporters the judge had dismissed 80% of the case for violating the statute of limitations.

Engoron quickly refuted this claim, however.

The week before, Engoron ruled that all claims were allowable under the statute of limitations, and on Oct. 3 he repeated this sentiment by saying the trial isn’t “an opportunity to relitigate what I have already decided,” according to the Associated Press.

The judge said at the trial’s early stage he is inclined to give both sides considerable leeway to connect older evidence to claims in the lawsuit, AP reported.

Fact check: Pennsylvania judge rules Trump had immunity only in civil case

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesperson for the New York Office of Court Administration, directed USA TODAY to all filings related to the case. No filings from Oct. 2 mention anything about parts of the case being dismissed.

The trial is still ongoing and is expected to last for three months.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump fraud case not affected by statute of limitations | Fact check