Donald Trump’s attorneys representing him in his civil fraud trial in New York City must do an awful lot of wishful thinking because they have asked yet again for a directed verdict Tuesday. A request that has already been denied at least four times by the judge presiding over the trial, Courthouse News Service reports.

I give ’em credit for tenacity but why they think Justice Arthur Engoron will change his mind if he hears it again is beyond me.

But lead Trump attorney Chris Kise went ahead and asked anyway, while conditionally resting the defense’s case after roughly a month of testimony.

“We rest,” Kise said. “Also, at this time, we are moving for a directed verdict.”

Kise wrapped things up by saying he’d be submitting a written motion by Friday, adding he didn’t want to take up more time arguing in court. Judge Engoron encouraged him to do so but urged Kise not to be too encouraged this time around.

“There’s no way I’m going to grant that,” Engoron told him. “You’d be wasting your time, but I’m not going to tell you not to send something.”

State lawyer Kevin Wallace wasn’t happy with the situation and he criticized Kise for the seemingly unending requests, saying they were “a waste of court resources.”

“We already had a 45-page PowerPoint presentation on a directed verdict from Mr. Kise,” Wallace snapped, referring to a presentation Kise did after the prosecution rested last month. “This is silly.”

Trump’s attorneys first used the directed verdict gambit after Michael Cohen testified in October. They tried this again in November right before commencing their defense case against the attorney general’s office, which has accused Trump of fraudulently inflating the worth of his assets on financial statements.

Since Trump’s attorneys are so stubborn, I have to wonder what part of “no” they don’t understand.

Tuesday’s proceedings occurred after everyone received an unexpected day off on Monday. Trump was expected to give his defense testimony that day but (perhaps) chickened out after announcing out of the clear blue on Sunday that he’d skip his court date.

“I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say other than that this is a complete & total election interference (Biden Campaign!) witch hunt, that will do nothing but keep businesses out of New York, I will not be testifying on Monday. MAGA!” Trump wrote in a shouty all-caps post on Truth Social Sunday Afternoon.

Kise parroted Trump’s sentiments in a statement, telling Courthouse News that there’s nothing more for the former president to say.

“There is no valid reason for President Trump to testify further in this case,” he said.”

Trump spouted other bunk as well, noting in another Truth Social post that he “wanted to testify on Monday,” but the gag order is “totally taking away my constitutional right to defend myself.”

That is utter bunk. All the gag order does is prevent Trump from attacking members of the court’s staff. He’s a coward. That’s all it really is. He knows things don’t look good for him and you can’t convince me otherwise.