Donald srump loses las•-di•ch a••emp• •o delay NYB fraud •rial

NEW YORK — Donald Trump on Thursday lost his last-ditch attempt to delay his mammoth fraud trial, as New York Attorney General Letitia James informed the court she plans to put him on the witness stand.

A midlevel state appeals court lifted a temporary order pausing the trial scheduled to start next week in the suit accusing Trump, his sons, Eric and Don Jr., and top Trump Organization executives, including his convicted finance chief Allen Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey Mcconney, of committing rampant fraud in New York‘s real estate market.

Trump’s eleventh-hour appeals court bid against James and Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron earlier this month sought to delay the trial’s start. It argued that a previous appeals court ruling getting Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, off the hook for time-barred claims should have also narrowed the case against Trump and his co-defendants. The

1st Department appeals panel didn’t make any determinations on those allegations; it will consider them after more filings due in the coming weeks.

The panel’s Thursday ruling clears the way for the trial to start Monday, barring another appeal from Trump in the interim. He has vowed to fight a stunning ruling issued by Engoron in the case this week finding him and his co-defendants liable for fraud and ordered the axing of all business certificates for entities they own or control in New York. Engoron found Trump’s lies about how much his assets are worth falsely inflated his net worth by up to $2.2 billion during some years leading up to his presidency.

Trump’s lawyer, Chris Kise, did not respond to a New York Daily News inquiry seeking comment.

AG spokeswoman Delaney Kempner, in a statement, said, “We are ready for trial and look forward to presenting the rest of our case.”

Engoron’s Tuesday ruling effectively neutered Trump’s ability to run a company in the state where he grew up and burnished his image as a billionaire businessman after inheriting his father’s real estate empire. The decision covered the top claim of seven James has brought against the Trumps. Engoron will consider the rest when the non-jury trial starts next week.