Judge Fines Trump $10,000 Over Gag Order Violation

The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud trial reportedly issued a $10,000 fine against the former president on Monday for again violating a gag order placed on him after he posted about the judge’s clerk on social media.

Justice Arthur Engoron reportedly slapped the fine against Trump on Wednesday after the former president told reporters during a break in the proceedings earlier in the day that the person sitting beside Engoron was “partisan.”

“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,” Trump said, according to Reuters.

The order from Engoron, who attracted ire after he appeared to pose for cameras when the trial began earlier this month, came after Trump posted an image on his Truth Social account about Engoron’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, standing next to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Engoron reportedly said he believed Trump referred to Greenfield in his latest remarks. But the former president took the witness stand on Wednesday to clarify.

“To whom were you referring?” Engoron asked.

“You and Cohen,” Trump said about his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who testified in the trial on Wednesday.

Engoron responded, saying he is “very protective of my staff, as I should be” and does not “want anybody killed.”

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“I stated the last time that any future violations would be severely punished,” Engoron said. “Why should there not be severe sanctions for this blatant, dangerous disobeyal of a court order?”

Engoron fined Trump $5,000 last week after discovering the former president had yet to take down the post about Greenfield.

The judge further indicated he would consider jailing the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination if he violated the gag order again.

“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include, but are not limited to, steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him,” Engoron wrote in the two-page order imposing the fine.

Trump is currently on trial in New York over claims that he inflated his net worth by as much as $2 billion in specific years for better loans; the former president has denied any wrongdoing and deemed the trial as “a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James wants to fine Trump $250 million, impose a five-year commercial real estate ban against the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and bar him and his sons — Donald Jr. and Eric — from running businesses in the Empire State.

Engoron, a Democrat, already ruled last week that Trump is liable for “persistent fraud” after the New York State Attorney General’s Office (OAG) said Trump had prepared, certified, and submitted false and misleading financial statements to lenders.

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump called Engoron “a very partisan and angry Judge” and asserted the trial is “rigged.”

“I will soon be leaving for Crooked Joe Biden’s ‘Political Opponent Court’ in Lower Manhattan. I have a very partisan and angry Judge, a Corrupt Attorney General, and am not allowed a Jury Trial under the Statute they have chosen to use (for the very first time ever!),” Trump said.

“The good news, that even the Fake News is seeing, is that the facts are ALL on my side! I BUILT A GREAT COMPANY, FAR BIGGER & STRONGER THAN ANYONE HAD ASSUMED! This is a RIGGED TRIAL, right out of a Banana Republic, but sadly, it gives the Republicans the right to do the same thing when we assume office…And remember, Crooked Joe Biden is the most CORRUPT (and Incompetent!) President in the history of the U.S., VERY FERTILE GROUND THERE, but very bad for our Country! This unfair political Witch Hunt is causing companies to leave New York at a record pace. They don’t want this to happen to them!”