If not Hochul, who IS stalling Trumps appeal of Tish James civil-fraud case?

Gov.Kathy Hochul’s people vehemently deny charges that she’s abusing her power over New York’s courts to blackmail President Donald Trump, but then what is behind the stall of his appeal of the insane civil-fraud verdict against him?It’s been more than half a year since New York’s Appellate Division, First Department heard Trump’s appeal, and even that September hearing was six months after the initial conviction.This molasses-slow process follows the junk justice of state Attorney General Tish James’ initial persecution in Judge Arthur Engoron’s kangaroo courtroom.To rewind the tape: Back in 2020, James massively stretched consumer-protection law to gin up a case surrounding the Trump Organization’s” dealing years earlier with Deutsche Bank, alleging that optimistic valuations of Trump properties somehow deceived the bankers into giving Trump overly generous loan terms.

 The ensuing investigation and trial made it plain that nobody was harmed — indeed, everyone on the non-Trump side of the table made money. But that didn’t stop Engoron from issuing a host of dubious rulings, culminating in a finding of guilt and a preposterous $454 million penalty (including interest) in February 2024, a number that continues to grow each day it goes unpaid. And when a five-judge panel of the First Department heard the case in September, Justice Peter Moulton put it bluntly: “The immense penalty in this case is troubling,” because “the parties left these transactions happy.” Justice David Friedman pointed out, “No one lost any money,” and consumer-protection statutes don’t normally apply to “really sophisticated players” like one of the world’s largest banks.It seems pretty obvious that Engoron’s penalties and verdict, indeed the entire case, should be tossed.We have no independent sources to prove or disprove White House aides’ claims that Hochul told Trump, “I control the judges” in some veiled hint that he needed to back of...