Judge Arthur Engoron admonished Donald Trump in court Friday morning and later issued a $5,000 fine against the former president for violating the gag order he had set in the financial fraud case. He also raised the specter of further penalties for future infractions such as heftier fines as well as jail time.
Trump failed to delete an inflammatory post about a court clerk from his campaign website weeks after Engoron had ordered him to do so. The original post was shared on TruthSocial and was ultimately deleted, but the campaign website post that mirrored it was not. Engoron asked Trump’s attorneys about the oversight.
“In the current overheated climate, incendiary comments can, and in some cases already has, led to serious physical harm and worse. I will now allow the defendants to explain why this blatant violation of the gag order would not result in serious sanctions, including financial sanctions and/or possibly imprisoning him,” Engoron said.
Christopher Kise, who represents Trump, called the post remaining on the website an “inadvertent” mistake, blaming the “large machine” of his client’s campaign operation.
“I will take this under advisement, but I want to make clear that Donald Trump is still responsible for the large machine, even if it is a large machine,” Engoron said, per ABC News.
The judge went on to fine Trump $5,000 and opted against holding him in contempt, noting in a written order that it was a “first time violation.”
Earlier this month, Trump had been hit with a gag order in the case after sharing a post on his social-media platform, TruthSocial, that maligned a court clerk that worked for Engoron. The post included a photo of the clerk with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, suggesting a connection between the two. Trump added an additional comment to it, falsely referring to the woman as “Schumer’s girlfriend” and as running the case against him.
Engoron ordered the post be deleted from social media and officially barred all parties from discussing court staffers online or in the media.
“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances,” he said at the time.
Another gag order was recently instituted against Trump in the pending federal 2020 election subversion case against him. The judge in that case, Tanya Chutkan, issued the limited order earlier this week, barring the former president from attacking Special Counsel Jack Smith and his staff, court employees, or potential witnesses.
