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美媒：中情局局长警告俄罗斯勿攻击北约成员国

2026年8月27日 10:34 / 联合早报

7月31日，美国总统特朗普（左）在马里兰州戴维营结束内阁会议后，与中情局局长拉特克利夫交谈。 （路透社）

美国多家媒体周三报道指，美国中央情报局（CIA）局长拉特克利夫本周对莫斯科进行了一次极不寻常的访问，旨在警告俄罗斯不要攻击北约成员国。

《华尔街日报》和哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）报道称，美国情报评估认为，莫斯科可能试图试探北约的反应，拉特克利夫此行或与此有关。《华尔街日报》更具体指出，俄罗斯总统普京可能在未来几年通过“有限攻击”试探北约。

白宫未回应法新社的多次置评请求。特朗普则说，拉特克利夫星期二（25日）访问莫斯科属于“半例行”性质，并暗示此行与乌克兰战争有关。

特朗普接受保守派电台主持人贝克采访时说：“他在那里，这在某种程度上属于半例行公事。我不想让大家失望。我们希望看到乌克兰战争结束。”

拉特克利夫是自2022年俄乌战争爆发以来访俄的最高级别美国官员之一。

据CBS引述多名知情人士报道，拉特克利夫在访问期间还讨论了伊朗问题，并警告称，如果霍尔木兹海峡不重新开放航运，将面临更多制裁。

克里姆林宫周三说，拉特克利夫在访问莫斯科期间与俄罗斯情报部门进行了“接触”，但并未会见总统普京。

旅行社：尼泊尔泥石流致47人失踪 包括两名新加坡人

2026年8月27日 11:15 / 联合早报

8月27日，无人机拍摄的画面显示，尼泊尔努瓦科特地区发生山洪后，房屋被淤泥覆盖。 （路透社）

一家旅行社周四告诉法新社，一个47人的团队在尼泊尔与中国西藏喜马拉雅山脉边境地带周三爆发泥石流后下落不明，团队中包括两名新加坡人。

“喜马拉雅冰川”（Himalayan Glacier）旅行社总经理潘迪（Sanket Pandey）说，团队成员包括15名澳大利亚人、10名加拿大人、九名尼泊尔人、八名美国人、两名英国人、两名新加坡人，以及一名拥有俄罗斯和美国双重国籍的人士。“目前他们仍处于失联状态。我们的团队正在核查接收受灾人员的医院。”

据法新社，这家总部位于美国的徒步旅行公司创始人潘迪，同时也是尼泊尔徒步旅行代理机构协会的主席。他曾乘直升机飞越受灾区域上空，但未能着陆。

潘迪说，在失踪的15名澳洲人中，包括两名十多岁的男孩。据他描述，团队大多数成员当时身处遭受洪水袭击的拉苏瓦加迪（Rasuwagadhi）地区，其中几人正前往镇上。

失踪人员中还包括七名尼泊尔向导。

英伟达披露过去一个季度向中国出售少量H200晶片

2026-08-27 08:28 / 联合早报

• 英伟达上季度向中国出售少量H200晶片，收入占数据中心业务不到1%，出货量低于美政府许可上限。 – 受中国监管阻力及需求下降影响，H200库存过剩致计提4亿美元费用，且下一季度未计入中国数据中心收入。 – 尽管H200已落后两代，字节跳动、腾讯等获准采购，此次销售具象征意义，为2025年以来首次对华AI晶片出货。

美国晶片巨头英伟达透露，最近一个季度已向中国客户出售少量H200晶片，但实际出货量仍低于美国政府批准的许可上限。图为8月26日英伟达发布最新一度财报当天拍摄的公司总部标志。 （法新社）

美国晶片巨头英伟达透露，最近一个季度已向中国客户出售少量H200晶片，但实际出货量仍低于美国政府批准的许可上限。尽管如此，英伟达的营收和净利润仍录得大幅增长。

据彭博社报道，英伟达星期三（8月26日）在财报中说，截至7月26日的三个月内，H200对华销售收入占公司数据中心业务收入不到1%。

英伟达在这场财报公布远超预期的营收和净利润增长，并预计公司2028财年收入将增长70%。

英伟达指出，由于受到中国监管部门反对，公司至今仍未能按照今年1月获得的美国政府许可，将获准数量的H200全部销往中国。由于需求下降，英伟达过去六个月还为过剩的H200库存计提4亿美元（约5.1亿新元）费用。

包括H200在内的晶片销售，以及电脑游戏相关硬件等其他非人工智能（AI）产品，推动英伟达在中国市场的季度营收达到78亿8000万美元，接近去年同期的两倍。公司没有披露H200在华销量，也没有公布相关营收。

在下一季度的业绩展望中，英伟达仍未计入任何来自中国的数据中心计算业务收入。自2022年以来，美国以先进AI技术可能被用于中国军事发展为由，持续收紧对华出口限制，英伟达也因此基本被挡在中国高端AI晶片市场之外。

尽管H200对英伟达整体营收贡献有限，但此次出货仍具有象征意义，因为这是英伟达自2025年获准向中国客户销售部分H20、并取得约6000万美元营收以来，首次再次向中国销售AI晶片。

H20原本是为符合美国此前出口限制而设计，但特朗普在2025年4月禁止对华销售，之后又撤销决定。不过，中国随后要求本国企业不要采购H20。

去年，英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋经过数月游说，最终说服特朗普允许公司向获准的中国客户销售H200。H200属于英伟达Hopper系列产品，相关交易附带多项条件，包括向美国支付相当于销售额25%的费用。

美国商务部负责工业与安全事务的副部长凯斯勒（Jeffrey Kessler）今年7月曾说，销往中国客户的H200数量“微不足道”，但没有透露更多细节。

英国《金融时报》8月18日报道，字节跳动和腾讯过去几周各获批约1万颗H200处理器，另有数家中国科技企业也可能很快获得批准，接收数量相近的H200。

H200目前已比英伟达最新的Rubin处理器落后两个世代，但在中国市场仍具竞争力。

几个月来，英伟达一直持有美国商务部工业与安全局批准的H200对华出口许可，但由于中国是否允许本国科技企业采购英伟达晶片一直存在不确定性，相关销售迟迟未能放量。

日本著名艺术家草间弥生逝世

2026年8月27日 11:41 / 联合早报

日本著名艺术家草间弥生于2026年8月14日逝世，享年97岁。 （路透社）

享誉国际的日本当代艺术家草间弥生（Yayoi Kusama）于2026年8月14日在东京一家医院逝世，享年97岁。

草间弥生工作室网站星期四（8月27日）发布上述艺术家逝世公告。文告写道：“草间弥生的一生致力于艺术创作，作为一位享誉国际的先锋前卫艺术家，她的创作实践涵盖视觉艺术、行为艺术、小说及诗歌等多个领域。她笔耕不辍，直至生命最后一刻，始终坚持探索永恒之爱与不朽灵魂的真谛。

“我们将继承草间弥生的遗志，通过艺术继续为世界各地的人们带来希望与力量，共同展望未来。”

草间弥生出生于1929年，出身富裕家庭，是家中的小女儿；10岁时开始创作标志性的圆点与网状图案。她那鲜红色的假发和大胆的圆点装束极具辨识度，而她那充满活力的作品，正是她与精神疾病长期抗争的写照。

CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russia not to attack NATO during secretive trip

2026-08-26 20:39 EDT / CBS News

By

Olivia Gazis
Olivia Gazis covers intelligence and international security matters for CBS News. Twice Emmy-nominated, she has traveled worldwide with the secretary of state and contributes reporting on intelligence, foreign policy and other security topics across CBS News broadcast, radio, online and streaming platforms.

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Updated on: August 26, 2026 / 8:40 PM EDT / CBS News

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The purpose of CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow this week was to warn Russia not to attack NATO member states, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, amid U.S. intelligence assessments that Russia could try to test NATO.

Ratcliffe also brought up Iran, warning of additional sanctions if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen to shipping traffic, the people familiar with the matter told CBS News.

The secretive visit to the Russian capital came to light on Tuesday, after a U.S. Air Force jet was spotted flying into a Moscow airport and a diplomatic motorcade moved through the city. CBS News was first to report the trip, which is Ratcliffe’s first known visit to Russia as CIA director. Ukraine was told that a U.S. delegation would travel to Moscow and was asked to hold off on strikes for the duration of the visit, according to a senior Ukrainian official.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on Ratcliffe’s warning not to attack NATO.

The CIA declined to comment on the reasons for Ratcliffe’s trip.

President Trump confirmed the visit to Moscow in an interview with radio host Glenn Beck earlier Wednesday, but said it wasn’t related to Iran or to Russian desires to test NATO, describing it as a “semi-routine” trip. Mr. Trump said “something may come out of” Ratcliffe’s visit, pointing to his push to end Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Ratcliffe spoke with Russian intelligence officials, but didn’t meet with President Vladimir Putin.

Recent American intelligence assessments have indicated that Putin could be willing to authorize provocative actions on NATO territory, including cyberattacks, hybrid actions and other operations that fall short of conventional military action, CBS News reported earlier this month. The likely goal would not necessarily be to trigger a war, but instead to test NATO’s unity and the Trump administration’s willingness to defend NATO allies, according to U.S. officials.

A pattern of recent Russian actions has prompted concerns, the officials said, including drone incursions into Romania, a Russian missile that crossed into Poland last month and an uptick in alleged sabotage actions and cyberattacks in Europe.

Under Article 5 of the treaty that created NATO, members of the alliance are expected to come to each other’s defense if attacked, a provision that the U.S. invoked after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. But Mr. Trump has long questioned NATO’s reliability and criticized member states for — in his view — not contributing enough to their own defense.

Mr. Trump has also publicly pushed Russia and Ukraine to end their four-year-long war, though diplomatic efforts have appeared to stall.

Meanwhile, Russia has maintained its partnership with Iran during the U.S.’s war with the Middle Eastern state, providing intelligence to Iran on U.S. positions in the region, CBS News reported earlier this year. The two countries have also cooperated on drone manufacturing for years.

Jennifer Jacobs and Aidan Stretch contributed to this report.

全球过半土壤状况堪忧 威胁粮食供应与生物多样性

2026年8月27日 11:57 / 联合早报

8月1日，法国东南部蒙福尔-叙尔-阿尔让（Montfort-sur-Argens）地区发生森林大火后，大片森林被烧毁。 （法新社档案照片）

联合国周四发布的一份报告指出，全球超过一半的土壤状况堪忧，这威胁到了全球粮食供应与生物多样性，但旨在改善土壤健康的行之有效的措施却未能得到落实。

联合国粮食及农业组织在周四（8月27日）发布的报告中警告：“在全球范围内，我们必须转变观念，从单纯的土壤开发转向土壤的负责任管理。”

报告作者指出，土壤“支撑了我们95%的粮食生产，承载了全球59%的生物多样性，并且是仅次于海洋的地球第二大碳汇”，但土壤退化正以惊人的速度持续加剧。

报告发现，在52.5%的区域和次区域中，土壤管理状况处于“差”或“极差”水平，三分之一的区域管理状况“一般”，仅14%的区域管理状况“良好”或“极好”。

这是粮农组织继2015年开展开创性评估之后，第二次发布关于全球土壤健康状况的重磅报告。

US judge blocks Trump overhaul of funding for fair housing groups

2026-08-26 20:31:55 UTC / Reuters

By Nate Raymond

August 26, 2026 8:31 PM UTC Updated 20 mins ago

[1/2]Construction workers use wood and lumber to build residential homes in Irvine, California, U.S., March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake

• Summary

• HUD planned to direct $46 million of $56 million to five grants
• Judge says HUD failed to explain sweeping changes to grant program
• Plan would bar longstanding fair housing groups from program, judge says

BOSTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from ‌restructuring a federal grant program to redirect money away from over 100 non-profit organizations that had historically received funding to help prevent and investigate housing discrimination.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston ruled the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had failed to ​provide a reasoned explanation for its decision to implement “sweeping changes” to a decades-old grant program run ​by the agency designed to combat housing discrimination.

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His ruling came in a lawsuit by the ⁠National Fair Housing Alliance and the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, which sued in July to block the ​changes.

Lila Miller, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the law firm Relman Colfax, in a statement said the ruling “rightfully ​recognizes the stakes at issue and protects the rule of law.”

HUD did not respond to a request for comment.

Joun, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, said Congress had long recognized the need to provide funding for fair housing organizations to help support ​the work of HUD, which had funded them through multi-year grants.

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Yet he said HUD in July upended that ​system of enforcing the Fair Housing Act by announcing it would not allocate any of its congressionally appropriated funding for the ‌2025 fiscal ⁠year to private enforcement initiatives or to multi-year grants issued through the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, which Congress created in 1987.

In the past, HUD would typically award over 100 grants ranging from $75,000 to $425,000, according to lawyers for the fair housing groups.

HUD instead planned to use $46 million of the $56 million that Congress had appropriated for just five grants, $25 million ​of which would go to ​a law school. The ⁠remaining $10 million could go to a state or local agency.

“The effect of HUD’s restructure effectively bars the very housing organizations that have been effectuating FHIP’s mission year after ​year since its enactment,” Joun said.

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The Trump administration also sought to force grant ​recipients to sign ⁠onto unrelated conditions to receive funding, by imposing requirements that they not use any funding to support “gender ideology” or “illegal immigration.”

HUD had argued it had the discretion to impose those conditions and that the changes it was making to the ⁠grant program ​were part of a large-scale modernization effort designed to broaden participation.

But ​Joun said that the “pithy description falls woefully short of the mark in both form and substance,” and it was “hard to see how or ​where Defendants relied on relevant data in crafting these changes.”

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Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Lawyer for Fed’s Cook, targeted by Trump, says there is no grounds for dismissal

2026-08-26T23:30:44.37Z / Reuters

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, accompanied by lawyer Abbe Lowell, looks on outside the U.S. Supreme Court, as Supreme Court justices consider U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to fire her, in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Supreme Court in June blocked Trump from firing Fed officials at will
• Trump has been pushing Fed to lower interest rates
• Majority of Fed board members were appointed by Trump’s predecessor

Aug 26 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook’s lawyer on Wednesday offered a detailed rebuttal to the accusations of mortgage fraud ​that U.S. President Donald Trump asserts provide cause to fire her, saying they rely “on untried and unproven allegations of criminal wrongdoing.”

“Governor Cook has never ​committed mortgage fraud or any intentional wrongdoing, and there is no legally cognizable cause for removing her from the Federal Reserve Board,” Cook’s attorney Abbe David Lowell said in a letter to the White House.

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Trump has been trying to sack Cook for more than a year in an unprecedented effort widely seen as part of a broader assault on the U.S. central bank’s independence. It’s the first time ​a U.S. president has attempted to remove a central banker since the institution’s founding more than a century ago, and would give Trump, who has long ​pushed for lower interest rates, the ability to install a replacement sympathetic to his view.

Mortgage fraud allegations against Cook, the first Black ⁠woman to serve as a Fed governor, were first levied last August by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte. The accusations were promptly amplified by Trump, who announced ​on social media that he was dismissing her over them.

Cook denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations a pretext to remove her for monetary policy differences, and she sued to keep ​her job.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to allow her removal in a 5-4 ruling that definitively protects Fed officials from being fired at will by a president. It has since returned the case to the lower court.

The decision left open the question of whether there was any wrongdoing that could serve as cause for termination, provided Cook was given the opportunity to defend herself.

FED INDEPENDENCE

Earlier this ​month, the White House took a fresh run at Trump’s firing effort, telling Cook in a letter dated August 5 that the president was “considering” removing her from her role “due ​to there being sufficient reason to believe that you made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”

The letter told Cook that “this is your chance to respond” and set a deadline of ‌August 26, ⁠two days before Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh is scheduled to give his first address to a group of global central bankers and economists gathered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the Kansas City Fed’s annual economic symposium.

Warsh has not addressed Cook’s case since taking the reins at the Fed in May. But he has publicly echoed past Fed chiefs and the broader economic consensus that any loss of political independence for the central bank’s monetary policy decision-making would imperil its inflation-fighting credibility.

Trump repeatedly threatened to fire Warsh’s predecessor, Jerome Powell, for not ​lowering interest rates, and his Department of ​Justice pursued a criminal investigation of Powell ⁠over building renovations that a federal judge found to be a thinly disguised effort to pressure him into resigning.

Once Powell’s term as Fed chief ended and Warsh began his, the Republican president redirected his criticisms at other Fed board members, a majority of whom, ​including Cook, were appointed by Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

In a criminal referral to the Justice Department last August, Pulte suggested ​Cook had committed bank ⁠fraud punishable by 30 years in prison because publicly available mortgage documents appeared to simultaneously claim more than one home as her primary residence. The referral was one of several Pulte made containing similar allegations against other targets of Trump’s disfavor.

There has been no indication a criminal investigation into Cook is moving forward. A Reuters report last year showed Cook had indicated ⁠to a ​lender that one of the homes at issue was a vacation property. Reuters also reported the local tax ​authority in Michigan said Cook had not broken rules for tax breaks on a home there that she declared as her primary residence.

The letter this month to Cook, signed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff ​Dan Scavino, said that even if there wasn’t fraud, Cook’s misstatements constitute negligence that calls into question her trustworthiness as a Fed governor.

Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Paul Simao

US judge refuses to force extradition of jailed ICE agent from Texas to Minnesota

2026-08-26T22:32:05.807Z / Reuters

The badge of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is embroidered on a polo shirt of an ICE employee, in Arlington, Texas, U.S. August 26, 2025. REUTERS/Shelby Tauber/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Ruling clears way for immigration officer’s release on Thursday
• Christian Castro charged with assault for Minneapolis shooting
• Minnesota officials say Castro poses a flight risk if freed

Aug 26 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by Minnesota to ​force Texas Governor Greg Abbott to immediately extradite a jailed U.S. immigration agent facing assault charges for shooting ‌a Venezuelan man in the leg during last winter’s deportation surge in Minneapolis.

The ruling clears the way for Christian Castro, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer arrested by Texas Rangers acting on a Minnesota court warrant, to be freed from custody on Thursday. That’s when a 90-day detention ​limit for someone awaiting extradition under Texas law is due to expire.

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Minnesota authorities had argued in court that Castro, ​jailed in the Gulf Coast border city of Brownsville, Texas, since May 29, was a flight ⁠risk if he were released.

Castro is wanted in Minnesota to face four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and ​a charge of falsely reporting a crime.

The charges stem from an incident in which Castro shot and wounded Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis on ​January 14, at the height of U.S. President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign in Minneapolis, then fabricated his reason for using lethal force against a man who was unarmed, prosecutors say.

Castro could not be reached for comment and it was unclear whether he has retained a lawyer.

The Minneapolis deportation sweep, ​called Operation Metro Surge, drew weeks of demonstrations and confrontations between protesters and ICE agents in which immigration officers fatally shot ​two U.S. citizens.

The case surrounding the shooting of Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national, has lingered as a flashpoint between the governors of Texas and Minnesota ‌over immigration ⁠control.

Abbott, a fellow Republican, has been a supporter of Trump’s deportation efforts, while Minnesota’s Democratic leaders, including Governor Tim Walz, have condemned Trump’s surge of armed ICE patrols in Minneapolis and other cities.

In a court brief filed on Monday, Abbott questioned whether Castro should be classified as a fugitive, and thus subject to extradition, because he did not flee Minnesota but rather was reassigned to ​his home base in Texas ​by the U.S. Department of ⁠Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, after the shooting.

Minnesota authorities countered that the issue of how or why Castro ended up in Texas is immaterial, and that the U.S. Constitution and federal law ​require states to extradite people wanted for crimes in another state.

Siding with Texas officials a day ​after hearing arguments ⁠in the case, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled that Abbott had not been shown to have refused the extradition request, only that he had not yet made a decision. Rodriguez concluded that the law does not require Abbott to turn over a fugitive ⁠within a ​certain time frame.

Rodriguez acknowledged the possibility that Castro could attempt to flee ​the U.S. after his release and “impose a hardship on Minnesota’s prosecutorial efforts,” but found that prospect does not alter his legal conclusions.

Reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Washington; ​Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

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Trump’s lawyers put Dem AG on notice for targeting his family in NY fraud fight: ‘Cannot stand’

August 26, 2026 7:33pm EDT / Fox News

The appeal argues the $450M penalty is excessive and that the case should have never been brought

By Leo Briceno, Fox News

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

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On Wednesday, representatives of President Donald Trump filed a brief in the New York Court of Appeals, arguing that the court should throw out his liability finding in a $464 million civil fraud case that centered on Trump’s real estate valuations.

The appeal argues that the case had several legal flaws that should have prevented it from being heard in the first place.

“This case should have never been brought, and the judgment cannot stand,” the appeal reads. “This case is extremely unusual; it involves not only reams of improper statements targeting President Trump, his family, and his businesses, but also a decision to apply [New York law] against those targets in a completely unprecedented and unlawful way.”

The appeal is the latest instance of President Donald Trump pushing back against what he has characterized as politically charged lawfare that he endured between his two administrations. It also gives Trump a renewed opportunity to push back against some of the penalties that still apply to him from that verdict.

LETITIA JAMES HAMMERED AFTER NY MEDICAID FRAUD UNIT FUNDING FROZEN OVER INEFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT

NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 16: Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference following a verdict against former U.S. President Donald Trump in a civil fraud trial on February 16, 2024 in New York City. Justice Arthur Engoron ruled against the former president finding him liable for conspiring to manipulating his networth and fining him $335 million and imposing a three year ban from serving in top roles at any NY company. The judge also banned Eric and Donald Trump Jr. for two years as well as a fine of more than four million dollars.(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, alleging 200 instances of fraud. Specifically, her office alleged that Trump had routinely overvalued properties in New York City in order to secure favorable loans or insurance rates in violation of New York Executive Law § 63(12). The provision instructs the attorney general to prosecute cases of repeated fraudulent or illegal acts.

The law defines fraud as “any device, scheme or artifice to defraud and any deception, misrepresentation, concealment, suppression, false pretense, false promise or unconscionable contractual provision.”

Trump was found liable in 2023.

As a result, Trump was required to pay $355 million plus interest in damages and was banned from serving as an officer or director of any New York company for two years. He was also banned from applying for loans from any New York bank or financial institution for three years. Although an intermediate appeals court later vacated the monetary award, Trump’s lawyers argue the underlying liability finding and the remaining restrictions should also be overturned.

APOLOGIES AND CASH HEADED TO ALLEGED ‘WEAPONIZATION’ VICTIMS IN BILLION-DOLLAR TRUMP SETTLEMENT

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 11: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he leaves the courtroom during his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court on January 11, 2024 in New York City. Trump won’t make his own closing arguments after his lawyers objected to Judge Arthur Engoron’s insistence that Trump stay within the bounds of “relevant, material facts that are in evidence” of the case. Trump faces a permanent ban from running a business in New York state and $370 million in penalties in the case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James.(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The appeal submitted on Wednesday argues against the verdict along five key lines.

The document argues that Attorney General James lacked the authority to bring the case, noting that the case involves private commercial transactions rather than harm to the public. It also contends that Trump’s valuations reflected subjective estimates that lenders independently evaluated rather than fraudulent misrepresentations.

“The only supposed ‘victims’ here are a handful of ultrasophisticated banks and insurers that have never claimed to be injured, were eager to do business with President Trump and his family, and made over $100 million from these transactions,” the appeal states.

The appeal further argues that the prosecution’s premise of overvaluation is based on the misguided idea that real estate has one objective value — and that deviations from that value must be fraud.

“Under that breathtakingly broad theory, NYAG can second-guess any business transaction in this State on almost any imagined grounds,” the filing reads.

And on the penalties, the appeal argues that the $450 million disgorgement is excessive, unlawful and even unconstitutional.

Finally, the appeal argues that the politically charged nature of the case, on its own, should have been enough to halt its consideration.

“NYAG cannot point to a single Section 63(12) enforcement action against similarly situated developers (or any other type of defendant) based on practices comparable to those alleged here,” the filing states.

TRUMP PICKS JAMES MCDONALD TO LEAD POWERFUL SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK AFTER JAY CLAYTON’S DEPARTURE

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 04: Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in the courtroom for the third day of his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court on October 04, 2023 in New York City. Former President Trump may be forced to sell off his properties after Justice Arthur Engoron canceled his business certificates and ruled that he committed fraud for years while building his real estate empire after being sued by Attorney General Letitia James, who is seeking $250 million in damages. The trial will determine how much he and his companies will be penalized for the fraud.(Mary Altafeer-Pool/Getty Images)

“Ms. James repeatedly called President Trump a ‘criminal’; promised to ‘investigate President Trump and his business transactions,’ ‘review … Trump-related real estate transactions,’ and ‘take on … his business in New York’; and threatened President Trump’s ‘family’ and ‘anyone in his orbit,” the document states.

James’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.