Donald Trump Fraud Trial: Ex-POTUS' Verbal Attack on Court Staff Leads to Gag Order

By Rick Martin First Posted: Oct 03, 2023 10:20 PM EDT

Donald Trump may have screwed himself up during his New York fraud trial after a misleading post regarding one of the judge's staff, leading the judge to issue a gag order against all parties involved.

Judge Arthur Engoron rebuked the former president by imposing a limited gag order on Tuesday, during the second day of the trial, after Trump posted an unsubstantiated claim that a key court staffer was dating Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer.

As is usual with Trump, he did not post any evidence of this aside from an image of the court clerk posing with the Senate majority leader and riling his supporters up to possibly go after the clerk. He attacked the clerk in his post, and this made the judge angry enough to call the former president and his lawyers to his chambers and blasted them in private.

"Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, not appropriate, and I will not tolerate them," the judge told everyone after speaking with Trump and his attorneys in private. He then warned against any "disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post about a member of my staff."

The judge promised that there would be "serious sanctions" should anybody on either side smear court personnel, according to the Associated Press. He also ordered Trump to take down the post, which the former president did.

Trump has painted the trial as a political attack against him. This is evident when he falsely accused the New York court clerk of dating Schumer to throw doubt against Judge Engoron.

The trial will ultimately decide how much he, his adult sons, and the Trump Organization will have to pay after the summary judgment made by Engoron found them liable for fraud. AG Letitia James is asking for $250 million.

The trial will ultimately decide how much he, his adult sons, and the Trump Organization will have to pay after the summary judgment made by Engoron found them liable for fraud.

Donald Trump Says He Will Testify In His Own Fraud Trial

Despite the gag order being issued because of his actions, Donald Trump says he will still testify, as he told reporters during the second day of the trial. However, he has had a history of promising to testify only not to do so, such as in the House January 6 hearings.

Meanwhile, Trump's former accountant Donald Bender, testified for the government and said in court that the financial statements he prepared for the Trump Organization were largely based on self-reported figures. This was questioned by Trump's attorneys.

Bender also testified that the Trump Organization failed to provide all documents necessary for producing the statements. This is despite his accounting firm attesting that it had already given all the financial records and had not "knowingly withheld" relevant data.

Others who would testify include former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, who was caught in a video admitting he was not trained as an accountant despite being dubbed "Trump's moneyman."

Judge Arthur Engoron Fact-Checked Donald Trump to His Face

Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, repeated Trump's claims during the trial and said that Mar-a-Lago could sell for $1 billion. However, Judge Engoron fact-checked this and told her, with Trump present, "You can't look at a property ten years later and say, 'Now look what it's worth." He added, "This is about current market value."

He then told Trump's lawyers that the trial was not a political witch hunt as the evidence against their client was strong.

"The impetus for the investigation was not personal animus, not racial or ethnic or other discrimination, not campaign promises, but was sworn congressional testimony by former Trump associate Michael Cohen that respondents were 'cooking the books,'" he said in court.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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