Eric Trump slams ‘horribly sad’ fraud ruling: ‘This is not the state that we grew up in’

Eric Trump slammed the nearly $355 million fine levied on his father, former President Trump, by New York Judge Arthur Engoron Friday in the civil fraud trial, calling it “horribly sad.”

“My father built a skyline of New York City. And this is the thanks he gets for doing absolutely nothing wrong, not a dollar of financial loss? The exact opposite, hundreds of millions of dollars in financial gain,” the younger Trump said Friday evening on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.”

“Every single witness testified we have nothing to do with this. They went in, witness after witness, this is not what they did in the company. It didn’t matter to this guy. You know, we were trophies on a wall for this guy,” he added. “This is the state of New York.”

Eric Trump’s rebuke of the Empire State comes hours after the former president was ordered to pay more than $355 million for conspiring to inflate and deflate his net worth to receive tax and insurance benefits. Engoron had already found Trump, and his top executives — including Eric Trump and his oldest son Donald Trump Jr., who serve as executive vice presidents of the Trump Organization — liable for fraud before the months-long trial began.

The verdict is less than the $370 million that Attorney General Letitia James (D) requested. However, once interest is applied, the office said the fine could reach about $450 million.

Both of Trump’s adult sons were ordered to pay more than $4 million each and barred from serving in top business roles in the state for up to two years. The former president was banned for three years.

Eric Trump railed against the state’s leadership, echoing his father’s claim that the lawsuit was political from the start.

“I caution anybody. I caution anybody even thinking about moving to New York to just be careful. This is not the state that my father grew up in. This is not the state that we grew up in,” he told guest host Jeanine Pirro. “This is the demise of a politically weaponized system. And it’s horribly sad.”

“New York is a hopeless place at this point. It’s so sad. This judge ruled against my father before we even went to trial. He ruled against our entire family. It was a setup from the very beginning,” he added. “This was never supposed to be in that court. It was supposed to be in the commercial division. They would never allow it to get there.”

The younger Trump also vowed to appeal the decision, calling it “egregious.”

“I promise you we’re going to get it overturned,” he said.