Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron slapped former President Trump with a $10,000 fine, claiming Trump had violated his gag order by disparaging the judge’s law clerk. Trump is in court defending himself against $250 million in fraud charges.
The gag order bars Trump from commenting publicly on court staff.
Outside the courtroom on Wednesday, Trump told reports, “This judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.” The judge claims Trump was referring to Engoron’s law clerk Allison Greenfield.
After the lunch break, Engoron summoned Trump to the stand. “Did you say, ‘This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside of him?'” the judge asked.
“Yes,” Trump replied but insisted that he was talking about his former fixer, Michael Cohen, who also appeared in the court as a witness in the case.
“The idea that that statement would refer to the witness, that doesn’t make sense to me,” Engoron said, adding, “Don’t do it again or it will be worse.”
He fined Trump $10,000 for violating the gag order he had imposed after the former president made disparaging comments about Greenfield several weeks ago on Truth Social.
Forty-five minutes later, Trump stormed out of the courtroom after the judge denied a motion from his legal team on an issue not related to the gag order.
“The witness just admitted that we won the trial and the judge should end this trial immediately. Thank you,” Trump told reporters after exiting the courtroom.
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