A New York appeals court has thrown out the nearly half-billion-dollar judgment against President Donald Trump in the civil fraud case brought by New York’s Attorney General, CNN reported on Thursday.
The decision, while upholding Trump’s liability for fraud, tossed the penalty and ordered a new review. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case, plans to appeal the ruling.
The court’s majority opinion called the fine “an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
This ruling is the latest in a series of legal actions against Trump that have been reduced or wiped away entirely. Federal cases over the 2020 election and classified documents were dropped. A state case in Georgia never moved forward, and a conviction in a New York hush money case resulted in no penalties after he became president.
President Trump celebrated the news as a "TOTAL VICTORY."
“I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before.”
Former Trump lawyer Alina Habba called the ruling “a resounding victory for President Trump and his company.”
An attorney for James said the DOJ probes were “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration’s carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.”