Trump Fined for Second Gag Order Violation in Civil Fraud Case

Facts

• Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron called Donald Trump to the stand for an unscheduled hearing and fined the former president $10K on Wednesday for violating a gag order after he was found to have maligned the judge's top law clerk, Allison Greenfield.¹
• This comes as Trump accused Engoron and the person 'sitting alongside him' of partisanship while speaking in a courthouse hallway during a break on the second day of testimony from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who flipped on the former president in the New York civil fraud trial.²
• While on the witness stand, Trump was asked to explain to whom he was referring in those comments. He replied it was to Cohen but failed to convince Judge Engoron, who found the witness 'not credible' and considered the remarks as an attack on his clerk.³
• This is the second time the former president was fined for breaching a gag order issued on Oct. 3 to prevent Trump from speaking publicly about court staffers after he criticized Greenfield on social media. Last week, Engoron fined him $5K after the original post about the clerk wasn't removed from his political websites.⁴
• On Thursday, Engoron reconsidered his decision against the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential election and reviewed video footage upon request from a lawyer for Trump. He ultimately kept the fine, claiming that the reference to the clerk was 'clear.'⁵
• This civil trial is to determine whether Trump and his adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, will pay more than $250M in penalties and lose their ability to operate a business in the state of New York after Engoron ruled that Trump committed fraud, inflating his assets to secure loans and insurance on favorable terms.⁶

Sources: ¹New York Post, ²The Wall Street Journal, ³BBC News, ⁴Washington Post, ⁵Reuters and ⁶FT.

Narratives

• Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by Associated Press. While this fine holds little financial consequences for someone as rich as Trump, it certainly marks a new reality for a former president who has no respect for the rule of law. As the leading Republican candidate uses his free speech rights to capitalize politically on efforts to hold him accountable and acts in contempt of court, the legal system will be tested in unprecedented ways to rein in such a reckless defendant.
• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by The Gateway Pundit. This nonsensical fine only confirms that Engoron is indeed a partisan judge who is colluding with far-left New York Attorney General Letitia James in a fraud case that has neither a victim nor a single credible witness. Trump was clearly referring to Michael Cohen, a convicted felon who went to jail for lying, but somehow, the judge stubbornly claims it was to his principal law clerk.

Predictions