Trump's comments come on the final day of a trial over allegations that he habitually exaggerated his wealth.
Former US President Donald Trump used closing arguments in his civil fraud trial to attack New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump had attempted to deliver full closing arguments Thursday but was denied permission when he did not approve restrictions preventing him from using the courtroom as an election platform.
The former president is the current favorite for the Republican nomination who will face the current president, Joe Biden, in the November elections.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is ruling what sanctions to impose on Trump after an earlier ruling that he and his company had fraudulently manipulated property values, allowed Trump to make brief additional comments after his lawyer had spoken.
Trump quickly took the opportunity to attack the New York state attorney general, saying, “They want to make sure he never wins again. He [attorney general] “He hates Trump… and if I can't talk about it, I'm not doing him any favors.”
James brought the case and seeks a judgment of nearly $370 million and a lifetime ban for Trump from the state's real estate industry.
“We have a situation where I'm an innocent man,” Trump said, adding, “I'm being persecuted by someone who's running for office and I think you have to step out of line.”
But Engoron attempted to interrupt Trump with a warning to conclude his remarks, to which the former president responded: “You have your own agenda, you can't listen for more than a minute.”
The judge told Trump's attorney, Christopher Kise, to “control his client” in response to Trump's statement.
The trial is one of multiple criminal and civil cases Trump faces as he seeks to return to the White House, ranging from a rape allegation to conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.
On the final day of the trial, Engoron was skeptical of Kise's argument that Trump should not be penalized for allegedly manipulating the values of his properties because lenders and insurance companies were still making profits.
Engoron said there need not be any “evidence of harm.”
Throughout the trial, the state's lawyers have sought to show that Trump consistently overvalued many of the towers, golf clubs and other assets he had before entering politics.
In November last year, Trump admitted to providing inaccurate property valuations.
“The countless deceptive schemes they employed to inflate asset values and conceal facts were so outrageous as to belie an innocent explanation,” James' office said in a filing.
In one example heard in court, James' team argued that Trump valued his Mar-a-Lago Florida club using “sales prices” rather than actual sales prices.
“From 2011 to 2015, defendants added a 30 percent premium because the property was a 'finished home.' [commercial] installation,'” the document says.
But Trump lawyer Kise argued that while there could be errors in Trump's corporate financial statements, they do not “lead to the conclusion that there was fraud.”
Trump is also scheduled to stand trial in Washington in March for plotting to overturn the 2020 election and in May for taking a trove of highly classified documents among his belongings after leaving the presidency.
