Former US President Donald Trump has been fined $10,000 for violating a gag order while speaking in a fraud trial in New York on Wednesday.
Trump allegedly told one of Judge Arthur Engoron’s clerks during a court recess the following:
This judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who’s very partisan sitting beside him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.
Engoron called Trump’s statement a “blatant” violation of his gag order, which prohibits the former president from insulting court officials. The order was issued on October 3 by Judge Engoron, who has been overseeing Trump’s civil fraud trial.
Biden’s political opponent violated the gag order for the second time, first defying the prohibition last week when he posted a social media post insulting the judge’s principal law clerk and was fined $5,000.
After his court appearance, Trump turned to reporters and disparaged his former lawyer and confidant Michael Cohen, calling him a proven liar. Cohen spoke about fabricating numbers that would back up his former boss’s claims. The lawyer testified that he and other associates made sure the numbers matched “whatever number Mr Trump told us.”
Previously convicted of financial fraud, Cohen was also accused of concealing Trump’s payments to former adult film star Stephanie Clifford, better known by her nickname Stormy Daniels, for covering up their affair in 2016 when Trump was running for president.
Judge Engoron has already found that Trump and his business fraudulently inflated and underestimated property values based on connections to investors or tax authorities. The Republican front-runner for the 2024 presidential election has denied any wrongdoing.
Engoron will decide the non-jury case. Trump may face a $250 million fine, and his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. could be banned from doing business in New York. To top it all off, the Trump Organisation could face a five-year ban on commercial property dealing.
