NY Rep. Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against judge in Trump fraud trial

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., filed an ethics complaint against the New York judge overseeing the civil fraud case involving former President Donald Trump, The Hill reports. Stefanik claims the judge has shown “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance” toward Trump, and she called on the judge to resign.

In a letter to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, Stefanik said Judge Arthur Engoron broke “several rules” in the state’s judicial conduct code.

“This judge’s bizarre behavior has no place in our judicial system, where Judge Engoron is not honoring the defendant’s rights to due process and a fair trial,” Stefanik wrote in the letter.

Engoron, she wrote, told Trump’s attorney that Trump is “just a bad guy” and that New York’s Democratic attorney general should “go after” the former president.

Before this trial began, Engoron ruled in a summary judgment that Trump, along with the Trump Organization and some of the company's top executives were liable for fraud. The ruling also stripped some of Trump’s most valuable New York business licenses, putting some of his properties at risk, according to the outlet. But a New York appeals court paused that aspect of the summary judgment until after it hears Trump’s case.

Since the judge already found Trump and the Trump Organization liable for fraud, this trial is now mainly about assessing their penalties.