A Manhattan judge ruling on a $250 million civil fraud case against Donald Trump muted and sharply reprimanded the former president on Tuesday for a social media post in which he took aim at a court clerk and called her “Schumer’s girlfriend.”
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, during the second day of the trial, issued a limited gag order – and threatened “serious sanctions” if the order was ignored.
“This morning, one of the defendants posted on his social media account a disparaging and untrue post about one of my staff,” Engoron said in court after a long lunch break.
The flyer in question was posted by Trump, 77, shortly before noon Tuesday on Truth Social and included a photo of longtime law clerk Engoron standing with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at a campaign event.
“Schumer’s girlfriend, Allison R. Greenfield, ran this case against me,” Trump wrote without evidence in a caption linked to his Instagram account.
“Very humiliating! This case should be dismissed immediately!!” he added.
Judge Arthur F. Engoron reprimanded Donald Trump, threatened sanctions and issued a gag order after the former president mocked a judge’s clerk on social media.Steven Hirsch
Trump also separately said on Monday that Greenfield “shouldn’t be allowed to be in his ear on every question” and claimed he “hates Trump.”
The post was removed during the court’s lunch break that day — after Engoron said he ordered it taken down — but was sent via email by the Trump campaign in 2024.
“Even though I ordered the post to be deleted, it was sent to millions of other people,” the judge said.
“Consider this an order that is not true,” Engoron said, explaining that the decision pertains to all parties in the case and covers verbal attacks on court staff.
“Personal attacks on my staff are inappropriate and I will not tolerate them,” he said.
Trump, on the second day of his $250 million civil fraud trial, posted a photo of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s clerk standing with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.realDonaldTrump/TruthSocial
Engoron made the statement after a closed-door meeting for about 45 minutes at the court, where the media was not allowed to enter.
“Yesterday, I warned the lawyer about this matter and it was ignored,” he said. “Failure to comply with these instructions will result in serious sanctions – I will be clear.”
He did not elaborate on the sanctions that would be imposed.
Greenfield is an experienced clerk who has been with the judge for several years, according to a real estate lawyer who has argued more than 100 cases before Engoron.
Engoron is known to involve his law clerks more than the average judge, and it is common for him to chat with them during proceedings for side conferences.
Trump was demoted after Engoron ordered his removal, the judge said. Steven Hirsch
Sometimes they participate in oral arguments, asking questions of lawyers on the judge’s behalf, real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who has also taken the Trump Organization to court in the past, told The Post.
This means that what Trump observed during his civil fraud trial was a routine practice for Engoron and not a targeted treatment.
The former president voluntarily attended the first and second days of hearings in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit in which she claims Trump exaggerated his wealth on Trump Org financial documents from 2011 to 2021.
The former president has taken every opportunity in front of the press and on social media to lash out at the black AG as “racist,” calling his case a sham and saying the judge is conducting a witch hunt against him.
In Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s “hush money” criminal case against Trump — which is awaiting trial next year — Judge Juan Merchan also issued a restraining order barring Trump from publicly discussing the evidence.
During the first two days of the ongoing trial – which is expected to last until December – prosecutors in James’ office alleged that Trump inflated his net worth for vanity so he could climb the Forbes billionaires list and save hundreds of millions in loans and insurance.
The Attorney General’s Office played a tape clip of former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen’s deposition in which he claimed his once-dominant boss ordered him to pump his assets to increase his net worth.
Meanwhile, Trump’s side argued that the AG’s case rested, in part, on the words of Cohen, a convicted felon and liar.
The first witness in the case, Donald Bender — a partner at accounting firm Mazars USA — had been on the witness stand until Tuesday testifying about his time handling the Trump account.
On Monday, Bender testified that he noticed that there was a discrepancy in the valuation of Ivanka Trump’s Park Avenue penthouse on Trump’s financial statements versus the price the daughter could have purchased the unit for.
The AG has alleged that while the company listed the luxury pad’s value at more than $20 million, Ivanka’s lease had a purchase option price of just $8.5 million — another example of exaggerating her assets.
Trump’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the gag order on Tuesday.
Trump did not comment on the order as he left court, only vowing that he would return on Wednesday.
“I’ll be back tomorrow. A good day — it was a very good day,” he told reporters.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
