Donald Trump has been told to watch what he says and posts, or risk ending up behind bars for up to a month.
In the second day of the former POTUS’ financial fraud trial, Judge Arthur Engoron just issued a limited gag order against everyone in the civil case to stop verbal and social media-posted swipes at members of his staff.
“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, not appropriate” Engoron made clear Tuesday after Trump took an underhanded partisan swing at the judge’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, on Trump’s Truth Social platform.
Calling what Trump did “a disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post about a member of my staff,” Engoron only cited “one of the defendants” as the one behind the post. But there was no secret to whom he was referring.
The now-deleted post showed Greenfield in a picture standing next to current Senate Majority Leader and fellow New Yorker Chuck Schumer and calls her “Schumer’s girlfriend.” A Trump specialty, the partisan taint has been a common tactic during the prosecution of the case by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat.
With his long history of going on offence, today marked the first time any judge has put the restraints of a gag order on the combative Trump, who is in attendance at the trial for a second day in a row.
Stating there could be “serious sanctions” if his order is not adhered to, Engoron demanded Trump take the offending post down – which the past POTUS and current GOP presidential candidate did fairly quickly. To underline the seriousness of his intentions, Engoron’s threatened sanctions could include fines, more restrictions and even 30 days behind bars for Trump if he violates the order.
In the civil fraud case, Trump, two of his offspring and their companies have been accused of vastly overvaluing assets and the self-proclaimed billionaire’s true worth as the onetime real estate developer went after financing from banks and other institutions. Engoron ruled on much of the case last week, concluding that the former president committed fraud and stripping the Trumps of the control they had over a fair share of their Big Apple real estate holdings.
The bench trial is primarily ongoing to determine damages. Having filed the case in September 2022, the New York Attorney General wants the Trumps to fork over up to $250 million.
The gag order today in New York state court comes as the vitriolic former Celebrity Apprentice host faces a pending motion in another indictment in federal court in DC that seeks to curtail what Trump can say and post about that matter and officials involved in that matter. Of course, anyone who thinks Trump is going to stop attacking judges, staff and the courts online, on the campaign trail or in front of the cameras, and fundraise off it, has been living in a cave for the past several years.
A defendant in four criminal cases as well as this civil case, Trump lives for snapping back at any attempt to limit his behavior, though maybe the threat of prison might curb that at least for a while — at least until he carves out a loophole for himself.
