Judge fines Trump $10k for violating gag order a second time after ordering him to take the stand



The judge in the Manhattan civil fraud trial fined former President Donald Trump $10,000 for violating his gag order a second time.

New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron had Trump answer for a statement he made during a midmorning break to the media blasting the judge for being biased against him.

"If we had a jury it would have been fair, at least — even if it was a somewhat negative jury — because no negative jury would vote against me," Trump said. "But this judge will. Because this judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who's very partisan sitting alongside of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is."

The judge had Trump explain who he was talking about, and the former president said he was referring to Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer who was testifying against him. Engoron told Trump he didn't believe him and instead accused him of criticizing the judge's court clerk.

"I think I've said this before, but the idea the statement of referring to the witness as someone sitting along side me doesn't make sense to me," the judge said, referring to Cohen.

Engoron had previously fined Trump $5,000 after he warned the former president against criticizing his head court clerk. Trump posted a photograph of the woman standing next to Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Trump referred to the clerk as "Schumer's girlfriend" and implied that the court was biased against him.

Engoron warned Trump that he would face more dire consequences for further violations of the gag rule and said that imprisonment was on the table.

“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are not appropriate and I will not tolerate it under any circumstance,” Engoron said when he ordered the gag rule.

The civil lawsuit was filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James against the former president, his two sons, and the Trump Organization. She has called for Trump to be fined $250 million and to have his business licenses revoked in New York.

Engoron previously ruled in September that Trump did commit fraud in one of the seven charges, but an appellate court issued a stay against the dissolution of Trump's businesses licenses.

Here's more about the second gag order fine:

Trump fined $10,000 for violating gag order www.youtube.com

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Judge fines Trump $5k for violating gag order and threatens 'far more severe' punishments, including imprisonment



A judge fined former President Donald Trump $5,000 for violating his gag order in the Manhattan trial for business fraud and threatened possible imprisonment for further violations.

New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron admitted that the violation was "inadvertent" after a report found that Trump had neglected to delete a social media post criticizing Engoron's chief court clerk.

"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," Engoron added.

Trump had criticized the judge's clerk over a photograph she took with Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

"How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!" he wrote on the post that referred to the clerk as "Schumer's girlfriend."

Engoron issued the gag order and said the accusations made against his clerk were "disparaging" and "untrue."

While the former president took down the post on Truth Social, it was discovered to be up at his campaign website until Thursday when the court emailed them to take it down.

“Despite this order, last night I learned the offending post was never removed from a website. This is a blatant violation of the gag order," said Engoron. “Incendiary untruths can and have led to serious physical harm."

An attorney for Trump apologized for the error.

"Based on my understanding this was truly inadvertent," said Chris Kise.

"The Truth Social post was taken down when the court asked," he added. "Truth Social was taken down and Trump never made any more comments about court staff, but it appears no one took it down on the campaign website. It is unfortunate and I apologize on behalf of my client."

Engoron previously ruled that Trump had committed fraud by overvaluing his net worth and properties in order to obtain beneficial financial loans and arrangements. That ruling related to only one of seven charges the former president faces in the civil fraud trial initiated by a filing from New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Here's more about the ruling against Trump:

NY judge hits Trump with $5K fine for violating gag order www.youtube.com

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