New York Judge Arthur Engoron imposed a $5,000 fine on former President Donald Trump Friday for violating a partial gag order. Engoron imposed the fine after Trump failed to remove a social media post alleging that one of Engoron’s law clerks had an affair with Senator Chuck Schumer.
Engoron said he told Trump to remove the post because it included disparaging and “untrue” remarks about a law clerk working under Engoron in the civil fraud case. The case alleges that Trump and his sons made dozens of misrepresentations about the value of their net worth to induce favorable loan agreements. New York Attorney General Letitia James started the suit against Trump, seeking $250 million in damages from the case.
In the post at issue, Trump claimed that the clerk had an illicit affair with Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader from New York. In particular, the post said, “Schumer’s girlfriend…is running this case against me.” The post included a picture of Engoron’s law clerk and Senator Schumer standing beside each other. A spokeswoman for Senator Schumer vehemently denied the claim about an affair.
Engoron said when he asked Trump whether he had taken down the post, the former president said he had. Engoron imposed the $5,000 fine after he learned that the remarks were, in fact, still posted on Trump’s campaign website. Additionally, Engoron threatened to jail the former president if the disobedient conduct continued.
The gag order in the civil fraud case is not the only one imposed on Trump. On Tuesday, DC Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed a gag order prohibiting the former president from making any disparaging comments against potential witnesses in the election interference case. However, on Friday, Chutkan put a temporary freeze on the gag order in that case to give lawyers more time to file briefs on whether the gag order violates Trump’s First Amendment rights.