(TheProudRepublic.com) – In a continued affront to 1st amendment rights, a New York judge has imposed a second fine on President Donald Trump, amounting to $10,000, for allegedly breaching a gag order.
The situation unfolded as Trump appeared on the witness stand. Judge Arthur Engoron had hinted at a potential violation of a gag order that restricted Trump from making public statements about the court staff. According to the AP, Trump’s comments to reporters during an intermission in his civil fraud trial caught the attention of the judge.
Politico reported Trump’s statement where he described the judge as “a very partisan judge with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”
Judge Engoron interpreted the “very partisan” individual referred to by Trump as Allison Greenfield, his clerk. The gag order on Trump was initially put in place after he made a post on Truth Social that mentioned Greenfield as the “girlfriend” of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Trump explained that his statement was actually targeting Michael Cohen, his former lawyer who testified against him on Wednesday, according to The Hill. However, Judge Engoron deemed that “the witness is not credible” and decided to impose the $10,000 fine, despite the objections from Trump’s attorney, Chris Kise, as reported by the outlet.
Previously, Engoron had considered imposing jail time after discovering that Trump had kept the post about Greenfield on his campaign website for 17 days following the issuance of the gag order. It was only removed after a court email prompted action. A $5,000 fine was ultimately levied for this violation, which Engoron acknowledged was “inadvertent.”
In a filing earlier this month, Engoron emphasized the potential dangers of “incendiary untruths” in the current tense climate, noting that such statements could lead to physical harm or worse. He reminded that Trump had been sufficiently warned about the repercussions of violating the gag order.
Back in September, Engoron concluded that Trump had engaged in deception, inflating his worth and the value of his assets to banks and insurance companies.
