Former President Donald Trump was recently fined $5,000 by Judge Arthur Engoron for breaching a partial gag order in his New York civil trial.
The gag order, initiated at the request of state Attorney General Letitia James, was put in place to prevent any party involved in the case from verbally attacking members of the court staff.
This action followed Trump’s criticism of a member of Judge Engoron’s office on his social media accounts.
In an order issued last Friday, Judge Engoron revealed that Trump had posted an untrue and disparaging message about his Principal Law Clerk on October 3.
The message, which accused the law clerk of having a relationship with Senator Chuck Schumer and called for the case’s dismissal, was posted on Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social. The judge demanded the immediate removal of the offending post.
“On October 3, during a break in this trial, defendant Donald Trump posted to his social media account an untrue, disparaging and personally identifying post about my Principal Law Clerk.” Engoron said. “Approximately 10 minutes later, Donald Trump represented to me that he had taken down the offending post, and that he would not engage in similar behavior going forward.”
Despite Trump’s claim that he had taken down the post, it was discovered that the message had remained on his website, ‘DonaldJTrump.com,’ for 17 days until it was removed following an email from the court. Trump’s lawyers argued that the violation was inadvertent and attributed it to the campaign structure.
Judge Engoron emphasized the unacceptability of personal attacks on court staff and warned Trump that future violations of the gag order, whether intentional or unintentional, would result in more severe consequences, such as steeper financial penalties, contempt of court charges, and potential imprisonment under New York Judiciary Law.
“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include, but are not limited to, steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him pursuant to New York Judiciary Law,” Engoron added.
Trump’s $5,000 fine was considered a nominal penalty for his first violation.
