NEW YORK (AP) — Fresh off victories in other legal cases, Donald Trump on Monday pressed a New York appeals court to overturn the nearly $500 million New York civil fraud judgment that threatens to drain his personal cash reserves as he campaigns to retake the White House.

In paperwork filed with the state’s mid-level appeals court, the former president’s lawyers said Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 finding that Trump lied to banks, insurers and others about his wealth was “erroneous” and “egregious.”

Trump’s appeal arguments echoed many of the gripes he delivered during his trial to TV cameras outside the courtroom.

His lawyers argued that New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit should have been promptly dismissed, the statute of limitations barred some allegations, that no one was harmed by Trump’s alleged fraud and that James’ involvement in private business transactions threatens to drive business out of the state.

Trump’s lawyers contend that Engoron’s decision, if upheld, would bestow James, a Democrat, with “limitless power to target anyone she desires, including her self-described political opponents,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a 116-page filing with the Appellate Division of the state’s trial court.

Engoron rejected many of the same objections as the case proceeded to trial last year, at one point equating them to the plot of the film “Groundhog Day” and fining some of Trump’s lawyers $7,500 each for “repetitive, frivolous” argument.

Trump posted a $175 million bond in April to halt collection of the judgment and prevent James’ office from seizing his assets while he appeals. If he wins, he won’t have to pay the state anything and will get back the money he has put up now.

“Such an outrageous miscarriage of justice is profoundly un-American, and a complete reversal is the only means available to restore public confidence in the integrity of the New York judicial system,” Trump lawyer Christopher Kise said in a statement. He called Engoron’s decisions “legally bereft” and “untethered to the law or to commercial reality,” and described the staggering judgment as “draconian, unlawful, and unconstitutional.”

The Appellate Division has said it will hear oral arguments in late September. Trump’s lawyers initiated the appeal days after Engoron’s ruling and had until Monday to file written arguments.

James’ office said Trump and his lawyers are raising unfounded arguments.

“We won this case based on the facts and the law, and we are confident we will prevail on appeal,” James’ office said in a statement.

Monday’s appeal filing is the latest development in a momentous legal and political stretch for Trump, who last week accepted the Republican party’s presidential nomination just days after he was hurt in a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. An attendee was killed and two others were hurt.

On July 1, the Supreme Court sided with Trump in ruling that ex-presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts performed while in office, further delaying his Washington, D.C., election interference case and causing his sentencing in his New York hush money criminal case to be delayed until Sept. 18 while his lawyers fight to have that conviction thrown out.

On July 15, a federal judge in Florida dismissed Trump’s classified documents case, ruling that Special Counsel Jack Smith, who filed the charges, was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. Smith is appealing.

In the civil fraud case, Engoron found that Trump, his company and top executives — including his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. — schemed for years to inflate his wealth on financial statements used to secure loans and make deals.

In addition to the hefty monetary penalty, the judge put strict limitations on the ability of Trump’s company to do business. Among other consequences, Engoron put the Trump Organization under the supervision of a court-appointed monitor for at least three years.

Trump’s appeal ensures that the legal fight over Trump’s business practices will persist into the fall and beyond.

If upheld, Engoron’s ruling will force Trump to give up a sizable chunk of his fortune. The judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million in penalties, but with interest the total has grown to more than $470 million — including $16.8 million that has accrued since the verdict. The sum will increase by nearly $112,000 per day until he pays, unless the verdict is overturned.

Trump maintains that he is worth several billion dollars and testified last year that he had about $400 million in cash, in addition to properties and other investments. James, a Democrat, has said that if Trump is unable to pay, she will seek to seize some of his assets.

Trump and his lawyers laid groundwork for their appeal months by objecting frequently to Engoron’s handling of the trial. Trump called Engoron’s decision “election interference” and “weaponization against a political opponent.” He complained he was being punished for “having built a perfect company, great cash, great buildings, great everything.”

During the trial, Trump’s lawyers accused Engoron of “tangible and overwhelming” bias. They’ve also objected to the legal mechanics of James’ lawsuit. Trump contends the law she sued him under is a consumer-protection statute that’s normally used to rein in businesses that rip off customers.

Trump’s lawyers went to the Appellate Division at least 10 times to challenge Engoron’s prior rulings, including during the trial in an unsuccessful bid to reverse a gag order and $15,000 in fines for violations after Trump made a disparaging and false social media post about a key court staffer.

Trump’s lawyers have long argued that some of the allegations are barred by the statute of limitations, contending that Engoron failed to comply with an Appellate Division ruling last year that he narrow the scope of the trial to weed out outdated allegations.

The Appellate Division could either uphold Engoron’s verdict, reduce or modify the penalty or overturn the decision entirely. If Trump is unsuccessful at the Appellate Division, he can ask the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to consider taking his case.

Democratic politicians and commentators in the United States have heaped praise on President Joe Biden since he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday.

Representative Maxine Waters, for instance, called Biden a “kind and decent man”. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, extolled his “vision, values and leadership”.

But while political leaders showered Biden with compliments, bombs continued to rain down on Gaza, killing dozens and sparking another wave of mass displacement in Khan Younis.

For many Palestinian rights advocates, the carnage and abuses in Gaza will define Biden’s place in the history books, as the US remains steadfast in its support of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory.

“He’ll be remembered for the hundreds of thousands killed, injured and displaced in Gaza,” said Abed Ayoub, the executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

“There is no way around it. ‘Genocide Joe’ is what he’s going to be remembered as.”

Thank you, President Biden! I am one of your greatest supporters and I was willing to stay with you through the Democratic Party nomination. However, you have decided to step down and you have endorsed your Vice President Kamala Harris. You are a kind and decent man who is…

— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) July 21, 2024

Since Israel’s war on Gaza started on October 7, Biden has offered the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unconditional military and diplomatic support.

Only once did Biden withhold a shipment of bombs to Israel over humanitarian concerns — and even then, he released part of that cargo a couple months later, amid pressure from Netanyahu.

Israel’s war, meanwhile, has killed nearly 39,000 Palestinians, displaced hundreds of thousands, fuelled a man-made hunger crisis and destroyed large parts of the territory. United Nations experts and other observers have warned of a “risk of genocide” in Gaza.

Ayoub told Al Jazeera that, despite Biden’s domestic achievements, the president will rank among the worst in US history due to his unconditional support for Israel.

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) echoed that comment. “Nothing will erase the fact that Biden’s legacy is — and always will be — genocide,” the group said in a statement.

Netanyahu ‘bear hug’

The US president has been a stalwart supporter of Israel throughout his decades-long political career.

He frequently calls himself a Zionist and argues that Jews across the world would not be safe without Israel.

He put that worldview into policy during his presidency, as he pushed on with Former President Donald Trump’s pro-Israel doctrine. Biden kept the US embassy in Jerusalem and refused to reverse the Trump-era decision to recognise Israel’s claims to the occupied Golan Heights in Syria.

He also aggressively pursued formal ties between Israel and Arab states, a goal Trump advanced with the 2020 Abraham Accords.

That push for normalisation, however, came without progress towards the recognition of an independent Palestinian state or the dismantling of systemic anti-Palestinian discrimination.

The outbreak of the war in Gaza further underscored Biden’s pro-Israel policies.

Weeks after the conflict started, Biden travelled to Israel and publicly embraced Netanyahu in what many critics have described as a “bear hug”.

That sign of friendliness was widely understood to be an endorsement of Netanyahu’s response in Gaza, after the Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7.

Even early in the conflict, human rights groups accused Israel of horrific violations rising to the level of genocide — a push to destroy the Palestinian people.

Within the first week alone, the Israeli military said it had unleashed 2,000 strikes across Gaza — a strip of land roughly the size of Las Vegas.

Biden has since authorised continuous arms transfers and more than $14bn in additional aid to sustain Israel’s Gaza offensive. Moreover, his administration has vetoed three United Nations Security Council proposals that would have called for a ceasefire.

Hatem Abudayyeh, the chair of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), said Biden will be remembered above all for enabling Israel’s “crimes against humanity”.

“He could’ve turned the tap of money and weapons off in October, but he allowed this genocide to happen. He is complicit, and that’s what will be written on his tombstone,” Abudayyeh told Al Jazeera.

Biden and Palestinians

Following his entry into politics in 1970, Biden quickly rose from local to national prominence, mounting a successful dark-horse campaign to represent Delaware in the US Senate in 1972.

After nearly four decades in Congress, he became vice president under Barack Obama, and in 2021, he won the presidency himself.

The president does not hail from a political dynasty, and he is not an exceptional orator. His success in politics is often credited to his interpersonal skills and ability to project empathy.

That sense of compassion, however, never extended to Palestinians, activists say.

“For nine and a half months, President Biden has funded and armed the brutal Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, making the US government directly complicit in the killing of at least 39,000 people, including over 15,000 children,” Jewish Voice for Peace Action said in a statement on Sunday.

“Americans have watched in horror and outrage as Biden sent the Israeli government the weapons it used to wipe out entire generations of Palestinian families, to destroy hospitals, bakeries, schools, mosques, churches, universities, refugee camps, homes and Gaza’s entire health care system and electricity and water grids.”

Beyond policy, Biden’s rhetoric at times seemed dismissive of Israeli atrocities and Palestinian suffering.

“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” the US president said in October.

But that stance caused Biden troubles both domestically and abroad.

Even before Biden delivered a disastrous debate performance on June 27, the 81-year-old had started to trail his Republican rival Trump in public opinion polls.

Parts of the Democratic base — including young people, progressives, Arabs and Muslims — voiced frustration and anger with his support for Israel.

Groups like the USCPR argued that Biden’s age and debate performance were only one factor in the pressure that forced him from the presidential race.

“It was not Biden’s failed debate that showed he is unfit to lead,” USCPR said. “It was the tens of thousands of bombs he sent to kill Palestinian families. It was his callous, dystopian disregard for Palestinian lives.”

Other commentators likewise argued that Biden failed to show enough concern for the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

Aaron David Miller, a veteran former US official, described the situation bluntly in an interview with the New Yorker in April.

“Do I think that Joe Biden has the same depth of feeling and empathy for the Palestinians of Gaza as he does for the Israelis? No, he doesn’t, nor does he convey it. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he said.