Donald Trump spent Wednesday “unleashing a torrent of grievances, vengeful promises and links to online conspiracy theories about his political rivals” on Truth Social, as Axios reported. Six of those posts attacked the wife of New York Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over Trump’s civil fraud trial. On Thursday morning, Engoron’s gag order against Trump was reinstated.
If you just skimmed the headlines, or were perhaps being willfully ignorant, you might think the first event caused the second. The timing actually appears coincidental, and the gag order couldn’t stop Trump’s tirade about Dawn Engoron — both literally, as it does not apply to Engoron and his family, and figuratively, as Trump has already shown he won’t let fines get in the way of a good vindictive rant.
Judge Engoron imposed the gag order on October 3 after Trump repeatedly targeted his law clerk by name on social media. The order barred Trump from making public statements about his staff, but it never applied to the judge or New York attorney general Letitia James.
Trump was fined twice for violating the gag order. Then it was temporarily lifted two weeks ago by an appellate judge after Trump’s lawyers (who were also placed under a gag order) sued Engoron. The judge’s lawyer said he and his staff had been “inundated” with threats from Trump supporters following his attacks against them. After hearing arguments from both sides, a four-judge appellate panel issued a ruling on Friday that reinstated Engoron’s gag order.
In court on Thursday, Engoron said he plans to “rigorously” enforce the gag orders against Trump and his attorneys. “We’re aware. It’s a tragic day for the rule of law, but we are aware,” Trump lawyer Christopher Kise responded.
Trump did not comment on the gag order directly, but he almost immediately continued his attacks on Engoron and his “Trump hating wife.” He reposted anti-Trump screenshots from an X account that conservative activist Laura Loomer claimed belonged to Dawn Engoron. For example:
But Dawn Engoron says she doesn’t even have an X account. “The Twitter account with the handel [sic] @dm_sminxs does not belong to me. I do not have a Twitter account. I have never posted any anti Trump messages,” she told The Hill via email.
The court issued a similar denial on Thursday afternoon. “Justice Engoron’s wife has sent no social media posts regarding the former president. They are not hers,” court spokesperson Al Baker said in a statement, per ABC News.
Nevertheless, Trump has continued posting screenshots from the account, which has now been deleted, and reposting messages in which Loomer goes after Engoron, his wife, and his son, demanding a mistrial.
Still, none of this violates the gag order, as Engoron’s family doesn’t work for the court. But Trump has plenty of time to incur more fines and maybe even jail time. On Thursday, Engoron said he would decide the case in January.
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