BREAKING: Trump attorneys file motion to get Judge Engoron off NY's civil case against him

On Thursday, Donald Trump’s legal team filed a motion in New York’s Supreme Court calling for the recusal of Judge Arthur Engoron from his civil fraud case. In late February, Trump was ordered by Engoron to pay over $454 million in the case brought forth by Attorney General Letitia James. Trump was also banned from running businesses in New York for three years. 

The filing stated that Engoron should step aside as a state judicial investigation into conduct plays out. Sources familiar with the investigation told NBC 4 that the probe is investigating whether Engoron had an improper conversation with high-profile real estate lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey in the weeks before Engoron’s judgment. 

Bailey told NBC New York that he had spoken with Engoron three weeks before the decision, offering unsolicited advice. The outlet noted that Bailey’s law license was once suspended. Engoron, through a court spokesman, said he was "wholly uninfluenced" by Bailey.  

"I actually had the ability to speak to him three weeks ago," Bailey told NBC New York in February. "I saw him in the corner [at the courthouse] and I told my client, 'I need to go.' And I walked over and we started talking … I wanted him to know what I think and why…I really want him to get it right." 

Al Baker, a spokesman for the New York State's Office of Court Administration, said in a statement, "No ex parte conversation concerning this matter occurred between Justice Engoron and Mr. Bailey or any other person. The decision Justice Engoron issued February 16 was his alone, was deeply considered, and was wholly uninfluenced by this individual." 

Trump’s team in the filing stated that NBC New York’s reporting raised questions about whether there was outside influence on the judge. 

"Where, as here, this Court's impartiality might reasonably be questioned under the circumstances, it must recuse. Indeed, there is no other means of dispelling the shadow that now looms over this Court's impartiality," the filing stated. 

"The New York Code of Judicial Conduct exists to ensure that litigants are afforded a fair and impartial trial. Justice Engoron's communications with Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey regarding the merits of this case, however, directly violate that code and demonstrate that Judge Engoron cannot serve as a fair arbiter. It is clear that Judge Engoron should recuse himself immediately," said Trump attorney Alina Habba.  

Trump’s team stated in the filing that Engoron had "failed to notify" them of Bailey’s input in the case, and that the judge had put them through three months of "obfuscation."

The motion also requests a separate evidentiary hearing before a different judge to call witnesses, which would include Bailey, if Engoron does not recuse himself from the case.

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