A New York state court judge rebuked former US President Donald Trump on Tuesday for attacking his clerk and ordered a limited gag order in the former president’s civil business fraud trial. Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him to delete a social media post that publicly maligned a key court staffer, as per an Associated Press report. Judge Engoron told all participants in the case not to smear court personnel, warning of “serious sanctions” if they do.
“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, not appropriate, and I will not tolerate them,” Engoron said after complaining — without naming names — about a defendant’s ”disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post about a member of my staff.”
According to the news outlet CNN, Trump had posted on his social media platform ‘Truth Social’ claiming that Engoron’s clerk was a “girlfriend” to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and added a picture of the two of them together.
“How disgraceful!” Trump wrote. “This case should be dismissed immediately.”
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The post apparently sparked a series of closed-door courtroom discussions, involving Trump and lawyers for both sides, during what’s usually a lunch break. By the time the gag order was issued, Trump had deleted the post — as Engoron ordered.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Schumer called the post “pathetic” and said the senator doesn’t know Greenfield and is in photos with thousands of constituents, reported AP.
Aside from the side show, Trump, the Republican front-runner for president in 2024, has repeatedly cast the trial as a political attack by New York’s Democratic attorney general, Letitia James. James’ attorney questioned an accountant in an effort to build the state’s case that Trump and others at his company had full control over the preparation of misleading and false financial statements at the heart of their case.
The state’s lawsuit alleges that Trump and his business chronically lied about his wealth on financial statements given to banks, insurers and others. Also, Judge Engoron set the record straight about a comment that the ex-president had touted as an important victory.
Meanwhile, Trump denies any wrongdoing and again branded the case “a scam”.