Trump fails in fourth attempt to get N.Y. fraud trial shut down

Donald Trump's defense lawyers have made their fourth unsuccessful attempt to end his New York business fraud trail, ABC News reported.

Attorneys argued following testimony from defense witness and accounting expert Eli Bartov, who said the case against Trump lacks merit because the former president's statements of financial condition don't contain any evidence of fraud. He also contended that errors found regarding the values of Trump's properties were likely unintentional.

Defense attorney Christopher Kise reportedly became heated when state attorneys objected to his questioning of Bartov.

"If they don't call anyone to dispute our values, how have they proven their case?" Kise said.

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Responding to Kise, Judge Arthur Engoron said, "You can't use false statements in business."

"That's what the summary judgment decision is all about. I think it is pretty much what the rest of this case is about," Engoron said, who ruled before the trial even started that Trump and his associates are liable for fraud for inflating the value of their properties to secure loans and insurance. The trial is effectively to decide damages.

Kise fired back, saying that if the state can't prove what Trump's assets were really worth, then their case is a "rudderless ship."

"You can't just say it's a misstatement because you feel like it," Kise said.

"The standard is truth," Engoron responded.

Trump's other lawyer, Alina Habba, then stepped up to make the defense's fourth motion for the trial to be stopped, saying the judge was "wasting our time" if he won't consider expert testimony.

"They have not proven their case. They haven't," Habba said in her request for a directed verdict.

"Denied," Engoron said within seconds.

Read the full report at ABC News.