A Manhattan judge doubled Donald Trump’s $10,000 fine for violating a gag order in his civil fraud trial — after the former president’s lawyer urged lawmakers to reconsider the penalty on Thursday.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron affirmed his finding that Trump, 77, had violated an order barring him from publicly commenting on the judge’s staff with his comments to TV cameras outside the courtroom on Wednesday.
Trump said Engoron is “a very partisan judge with someone very partisan sitting next to him, maybe even more partisan than he is.”
The judge found that Trump was commenting on top law clerk Allison Greenfield, who was sitting right next to Engoron, to his right.
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise again argued on Thursday that the former president was referring to his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen – who testified during a circus-like day in court – when he referred to people who “sat with” the judge.
“His business is under attack, and he has the right to comment, fairly, on what he feels in open court,” Kise said, asking Engoron to reconsider the fine.
Courtroom sketch of Donald Trump sitting next to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.REUTERS
Engoron weighed in on the matter briefly before he upheld his ruling, saying it was clear Trump had been talking about Greenfield because the former president later referred to Cohen as a “discredited witness.”
“That, to me, was a clear transition from one person to another, and I think the person originally referred to was my clerk,” Engoron said.
Trump, who was not in court Thursday, caused a stir a day earlier when he was called to the witness stand to set the record straight about comments he made in the hallway.
Trump has spoken to reporters in the hallway several times during his fraud trial.JC Rice
The presidential candidate insisted he was talking about Cohen when questioned by Engoron — but the judge made a swift ruling shortly after Trump left the stand, saying Trump was “untrustworthy” and fined him $10,000 for violating the gag order again.
Trump has already been warned twice and fined $5,000 after making public attacks on Greenfield, who he disparaged ahead of the start of the trial as “Schumer’s girlfriend” in a since-deleted post on Truth Social.
Trump’s first fine came after a judge found the social media posts had not been removed from his campaign website — and threatened to jail him for future violations of the gag order.
Engoron fined Trump $10,000 on Wednesday.Steven Hirsch
Engoron again warned Trump that the consequences would be worse if he violated the gag order again.
“Don’t do it again, or it will get worse,” he said in court Wednesday.
Trump then stormed out of the courtroom, prompting the Secret Service to rush after him as the judge denied his lawyers’ motion to have the case dismissed over Cohen’s testimony.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
