Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron fined Donald Trump $10,000 for violating a gag order during statements to journalists, even though the former president clarified that his comments were not about any member of Engoron's staff, which is what the order prevents him from doing.
Engoron imposed a fine on the former president this Wednesday after Trump told the press that the judge had a "very partisan" person sitting next to him and that he could even be "more partisan" than the judge.
When the former president took the stand at the judge's request, he testified that, in reality, the person he was criticizing was his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, a witness called by the New York attorney general's office in the alleged $250 million civil fraud case.
During the hearing, the judge asked Trump if he was sure he was not referring to "the person on the other side" in reference to his legal assistant, and the former president denied it. However, Engoron described the former president's testimony as "not credible" and fined him for the second time in less than a week for violating the gag order.
"I hereby fine you $10,000 -- which is on the liberal side -- to be paid within 30 days," he determined.
BREAKING - DRAMATIC: Trump takes the stand in New York, and the judge fines him $10,000 for violating a gag order in court. The gag order has been in place for just 22 days. This is the second time that Trump was fined; the first time he was fined $5,000. In court today, the… pic.twitter.com/7SkXgKBdYC
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) October 25, 2023
When and why was the order issued?
Engoron issued the partial gag order during the second day of the civil trial against Trump after the former president shared a publication through Truth Social claiming that Allison Greenfield, the judge's legal assistant, had a relationship with Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer.
"Schumer's girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!" Trump wrote.
The judge condemned the "attacks" on his court staff members and warned that he would impose penalties if Trump or any other party involved in the case did it again.
First fine
Last week, Engoron imposed the first $5,000 penalty on Donald Trump after learning that even though the former president deleted the post about Greenfield, the comment remained on Trump's campaign site.
Trump's lawyer, Chris Kise, assured that the comment remained on the website as an "inadvertent" error and that there was no intention to evade or ignore the order. But the fine stood.
