The Irony of Trump Whining About a Jury Trial His Lawyers Didn’t Formally Request
When the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s bank fraud trial reminded him this week that he alone would decide his fate, the incensed former president leaned over to the lawyer on his left and grumbled, “I wish I’d had a jury trial,” according to two people who overheard him.
But there’s a reason Trump isn’t getting a jury trial: His own attorneys didn’t ask for one. At least, they didn't ask for one using the proper legal channel and on the correct legal timeline, according to court records and the lawyers themselves.
In recent days, Trump and his allies have complained that the New York Attorney General’s case—already doomed to dismantle his real estate companies and potentially empty his bank accounts—ended up in the hands of a single man, Justice Arthur F. Engoron.