Trump fined $5K over ‘blatant violation’ of gag order in NYC fraud trial
The Manhattan judge overseeing Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial fined the ex-president $5,000 Friday for failing to remove a social media post attacking the judge’s clerk from his campaign website — and threatened to jail him for future breaches of a “gag” order.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron slapped Trump, 77, with the lax penalty after accepting the Trump camp’s claim that a screenshot of the post — in which the 45th president disparaged Engoron’s top law clerk Allison Greenfield —was left on Trump’s website “inadvertently” for 17 days after a court order barred Trump from publicly criticizing Engoron’s staff.
But the judge — who has already found Trump liable for fraud for making “indisputably” false claims to secure favorable terms with banks — vowed that such excuses will not be accepted if Trump breaches the gag order again.
“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions,” Engoron wrote Friday, including “steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him.”
Trump was ordered to pay the $5,000 within 10 days to the New York Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection, a public trust that reimburses legal clients for financial losses caused by “dishonest” legal conduct.
Engoron’s ruling came hours after the seething judge grilled Trump’s lawyers before the trial resumed Friday morning on why the 2024 GOP frontrunner had not removed the social media post, which baselessly accused Greenfield of being “Schumer’s girlfriend.”
The post included a photo of Greenfield and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-NY), at a campaign event.
A Schumer spokeswoman has called Trump’s post “ridiculous, absurd, and false,” saying that the senator does not know Greenfield.
Trump attorney Chris Kise claimed that the social media screenshot had been posted “automatically” to Trump’s campaign website, and said it was an oversight that the post remained up until last night.
Later in the day, Kise tried to downplay the impact of the post, claiming that only 3,701 out of 114 million visitors to Trump’s website from the time of the Oct. 3 gag order had viewed the page containing the screenshot before it was removed.
Engoron appeared unmoved by most of Kise’s explanations during the hearing — and warned later in his ruling about the real-world dangers of Trump posting misinformation.
“In this current overheated political climate, incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already have, led to serious physical harm, and worse,” Engoron wrote.
Friday morning’s drama was just the latest twist in what has become a chaotic scene at the Lower Manhattan courthouse where Trump, his company and his two eldest sons face allegations that they inflated the value of Trump’s real estate empire to get favorable terms from banks.
Trump, 77, is not required to be present for the civil trial and was not in attendance on Friday.
He’s expected to return Tuesday to hear testimony from his former “fixer” and personal lawyer Michael Cohen — who told The Post Friday that the judge could have come down far harsher on his ex-boss.
“I thought he was very even-handed and judicious in imposing a fine for violating a limited gag order that no one thought it was even possible to violate,” Cohen said of the judge.
On Wednesday, a New York state court employee was escorted out of the courtroom and arrested after she tried to approach the former commander-in-chief — claiming she wanted to help him.
Tensions have also risen between Trump’s attorneys and lawyers for New York Attorney General Letitia James, including on Thursday, when the AG’s office accused Trump’s lawyer Kise of not treating them with respect.
“Excuse me, be more respectful,” AG lawyer Colleen Faherty could be heard saying during a private meeting by the judge’s bench.
“No,” answered Kise.
Engoron has already found Trump liable for fraud — the top claim in James’ sprawling suit — and has said the ex-president made “indisputably” false statements on his financial filings.
Trump’s team is appealing Engoron’s September ruling finding him liable for fraud and taking steps toward dissolving his New York “business certificates,” which could hamper his longtime company’s ability to operate in the Empire State.
