Trump Civil Trial in New York May Wrap Up Ahead of Schedule, AG Says

Former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial may wrap up more than a week ahead of its initially anticipated schedule, attorneys for New York State said on Thursday.

Though schedules remain subject to change, the defense currently intends to call the former president as their final witness on Dec. 11.

New York Attorney General Letitia James may present a rebuttal case after that, and her counsel Kevin Wallace said in court on Thursday that such a case would take place on Dec. 12, 2023, with brief testimony by two witnesses.

Wallace did not disclose the names of those possible witnesses.

Instead of closing arguments, the state and defense agreed to adjourn trial after that in order to submit written briefings about the evidence presented in court by Jan. 5, 2024. Oral arguments about that evidence will now take place on Jan. 11, 2024, at 10 a.m. ET.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found Trump liable on the first of seven counts of the attorney general's lawsuit. In that September ruling, Engoron ordered the dissolution of Trump's New York business empire, in an order currently under appeal.

The six remaining claims at issue in the trial will determine whether Trump, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and his ex-business associates Jeffrey McConney and Allen Weisselberg also must pay hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains — and whether they will forever be banned from serving as directors or officers of any New York-based corporation.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this story reported a proposal by the attorney general to conduct closing arguments on Dec. 13, 2023. That plan has since been amended, and this story has been updated accordingly.