Judge Engoron Imposes Gag Order After Trump Attacks Clerk

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Judge in fraud trial imposes gag order after Trump attacks judge’s aide: In a social media post that was quickly deleted, Trump attacked the judge’s law clerk on the second day of his civil trial for business fraud.
by Erica Orden, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney
Politico
10/03/2023 03:41 PM EDT
Updated: 10/03/2023 04:57 PM EDT

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NEW YORK — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial issued a gag order Tuesday barring Trump from making comments about court staff after the former president posted a social media attack on the judge’s principal law clerk that included her photo.

“This morning one of the defendants posted to his social media account a disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post about a member of my staff,” said Justice Arthur Engoron, addressing Trump as he sat in the courtroom, about 15 feet from the clerk, Allison Greenfield.

“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them in any circumstances,” Engoron continued.

The judge said he had warned Trump Monday “off the record” about making such comments, but that Trump had ignored him. After Trump posted the material online Tuesday, Engoron ordered him to delete the post — and it quickly disappeared from Trump’s social media site, Truth Social.

“Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing or speaking publicly about any of my staff,” Engoron said. “Failure to abide by this order will result in serious sanctions.”

Earlier Tuesday, Trump posted a message alleging Greenfield “is running this case against me.” The message was pulled from an account on X with fewer than 200 followers. Trump then linked to an Instagram account for Greenfield’s campaign for a judgeship in Manhattan civil court.

“How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!” Trump added. He also posted a photo of her alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and referred to her as “Schumer’s girlfriend.”

Several minutes later, Trump’s campaign sent out his social media post in an email blast.

Trump posted the claim about Greenfield while the trial was still in its morning session. Shortly after the court broke for lunch, the judge called the parties back, without allowing reporters to reenter. Court resumed following the lunch break and a 45-minute delay.

Since the start of the trial on Monday morning, Greenfield has been sitting immediately to the right of Engoron, which placed her directly facing Trump. She resumed that same seat Tuesday afternoon, as Engoron read the gag order.

Trump, his adult sons and his businesses are being sued for up to $250 million in penalties stemming from what New York authorities describe as persistent business fraud.

Greenfield has played a prominent role in the long-running proceedings related to the Trump Organization, particularly during a prelude to the current case last year when New York Attorney General Tish James, who filed the civil fraud lawsuit, sought to force Trump and his children Donald Jr. and Ivanka to testify over their objections. James also complained that the Trump businesses were foot-dragging in response to subpoenas.

The clerk took an active part in those proceedings, with Engoron often turning to her to question lawyers for each side. In addition, the judge rarely concluded a hearing without consulting with Greenfield about outstanding issues that he might wish to raise with the parties.

Engoron’s decision lands at the precise moment a federal judge in Washington, D.C. is weighing prosecutors’ request for a more severe gag order on Trump, whom they’ve accused of repeatedly harassing and intimidating witnesses, tainting the D.C. jury pool and fueling threats against prosecutors and the court in one of the four criminal cases he is facing.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled an Oct. 16 hearing to consider the matter. Trump, despite being put on notice that prosecutors were seeking a gag order, posted a string of social media attacks on key witnesses in the Washington, D.C.-based federal case against him brought by special counsel Jack Smith. His most pointed attacks came against former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, who is expected to be a witness against him in both of his federal criminal cases.

Trump’s verbal assaults on judges, prosecutors and court personnel have already resulted in consequences in another one of his criminal cases, the New York state indictment brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The judge overseeing that case, Justice Juan Merchan, issued a protective order preventing Trump from receiving the names or other identifying information of personnel in Bragg’s office, other than prosecutors and law enforcement members, until the start of jury selection.

In requesting the protective order, prosecutors argued in a court filing that Trump “has a longstanding and perhaps singular history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, trial jurors, grand jurors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him, putting those individuals and their families at considerable safety risk.”

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Trump FLEES COURT After ATTACKING Judges and Prosecutors
by Michael Popok and Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Legal AF Podcast - Full Episodes
MeidasTouch
10/4/23

Michael Popok & Karen Friedman Agnifilo are back with a new episode of the midweek edition of the Legal AF pod. On this episode, they discuss: the first 3 days of the Fraud Trial of the Century against Trump, including all of his bad behavior and gag orders; 5 different judges’ attempts to control Trump and why they have all failed as we await Judge Chutkan’s expected gag order in the DC Election Interference case; the US Supreme Court has opened its new term as it comes off a prior year filled with ethical violations, lack of public trust, and the highjacking of the Court by the right wing; developments in the Georgia Election Interference prosecution, including more plea deals being offered to cooperating defendants, and more breaking news from the intersection of Law, Politics and Justice.



***************
The Dam is Breaking: Recapping Day 2 Of Trump's Civil Fraud Trial as Judge Issues Gag Order for Donald Trump: Day two of Trump's civil fraud trial had massive fireworks, none good for Trump
by Aaron Parnas
MeidasTouch.com
10/4/23

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Schumer's girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!
instagram.com/greenfield4civil...

Judicial Protest
@JudicialProtest
Why is Judge Engoron's Principal Law Clerk, Allison R. Greenfield, palling around with Chuck Schumer?

Today marked the second day of Donald Trump's Civil Fraud trial in New York and there were as many fireworks as during the first day yesterday. Like yesterday, Trump was present for the second day of his trial. This morning, prior to the beginning of the day's proceedings, Trump posted an unhinged rant on Truth Social claiming that the Judge's clerk is Senator Chuck Schumer's girlfriend. With this inaccurate claim, Trump doxxed the law clerk by posting her phone number, a link to her Instagram account, and demanded that his case be dismissed because of her.

Within minutes of making this post, the Judge called Trump and his attorneys back to the courtroom where he issued the first ever gag order against a current or former President, prohibiting Trump from making public statements about any of the Judge's staff. Specifically, Judge Engoron stated:

“Personal attacks on members on my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I won't tolerate it [in my court]...Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting or publicly speaking about any member of my staff. Failure to abide by this order will result in serious sanctions."

Our very own Ben Meiselas did a full breakdown of this massive decision:

Following this, only one witness took the stand today, Donald Bender. Bender was the first witness for the New York Attorney General's Office and is Donald Trump's former accountant. During the direct examination of Bender, Trump's attorneys repeatedly made objections concerning the statute of limitations of some of the claims made. At one point, Judge Engoron got frustrated with Trump's attorneys, allowing them to make a standing objection to the statute of limitations related issues.

Bender was later shown an engagement letter signed by Trump and his former CFO, Alan Weisselberg. When asked whether Bender or Mazars (the accounting firm) would sign such a letter knowing the statements contained within were untrue, Bender noted that he would not.

Shortly after, the cross examination of Bender began with not much transpiring before the day concluded. Tomorrow, the cross examination is expected to continue for most of the morning, with a brief re-direct examination following suit. Afterwards, the next expected witness in the case is Camron Harris, a partner at Whitley Penn. This trial is expected to last over two months, so expect a slow drag through the evidence as the New York Attorney General's Office presents its case.

Stay tuned as the Meidas Touch Network will provide you updates every step of the way.

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‘That is disgraceful’: Trump goes after fraud suit judge’s law clerk on Truth Social mid-trial and calls her ‘Schumer’s girlfriend’
by Matt Naham
Law & Crime
Oct 3rd, 2023, 1:46 pm
Updated Oct 3rd, 2023, 4:54 pm

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump returns from a short break to speak to members of the media upon arrival to the court on day two of his Civil Fraud Trial, Manhattan Supreme Court, New York, NY, October 3, 2023. (Photo by Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images); (right) the post about presiding Justice Arthur’s law clerk that Trump shared on Truth Social.

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday decided to send a Truth Social post during his New York fraud civil trial attacking Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s principal law clerk as Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D) “girlfriend,” sharing an image of Allison Greenfield and Schumer smiling in a photograph and linking to her Instagram profile.

“Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison [sic] R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately,” the post said.

While the move is to legal observers likely to spark more gag order talk, as Trump’s social media postings have in his Jan. 6 federal criminal case, the former president is predictably posting about Allison Greenfield while sharing a photo of her with Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, to signal to his supporters that they, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Judge Engoron (D) are playing politics to destroy his family business.

Bradley P. Moss
@BradMossEsq
Trump is publicly attacking Engoron’s clerk on Truth Social. He desperately is asking for a gag order.
10:42 AM · Oct 3, 2023
from Virginia, USA

If there was any doubt about Trump’s intentions behind the Truth Social post, he promptly called more attention to the post outside of the courthouse and hailed it as proof of a “witch hunt.”

Sky News
@SkyNews
BREAKING: Donald Trump says that the current court case against him, which accuses him of fraud, is "rigged".
He adds "you saw what was just put out about Schumer and the principal clerk", as he continues to claim the trial is a "witch-hunt".
https://trib.al/p7m8Y4s
Sky 501
11:01 AM · Oct 3, 2023

“You saw what was just put out about Schumer and the principal clerk. That is disgraceful,” Trump said.

Trump and his supporters have already bristled at the fact he faces a bench trial in the $250 million civil fraud lawsuit before a judge he attacked as a “ROGUE, OUT OF CONTROL, TRUMP HATING JUDGE.” But the judge made clear Monday that “nobody asked for” a jury trial, including Trump’s lawyers Christopher Kise and Alina Habba.

Even if there was a jury trial, you could safely bet that Trump would argue he couldn’t get a fair trial in liberal Manhattan.

Engoron’s partial summary judgment in James’ favor last week found that the former president inflated his net worth by billions and overestimated the value of his Trump Tower triplex apartment by “a factor of three.”

That, Engoron said, “can only be considered fraud.”

As part of his summary judgment ruling, Engoron found Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization liable for fraud, canceled business certificates, appointed retired Judge Barbara S. Jones as an independent monitor for the Trump Organization, and ordered the parties in the case to “recommend the names of no more than three potential independent receivers to manage the dissolution of the canceled LLCs.”

On Monday, Trump took to Truth Social to call Letitia James a “RACIST” and repeated the claim that the judge “REFUSES TO FOLLOW THE APPELLATE COURT DECISION WHICH KNOKS [sic] OUT 80% OF THIS SHAM CASE.”

Later Monday, the former president said it was a “[g]ood day at trial today as the judge will be honoring the Appellate Court’s unanimous decision on the Statute of Limitations! This reduces the case by approximately 80%.”

The judge reportedly shot down the claim that he’d reversed himself on the statute of limitations issue Tuesday, saying, “Every use of a [false] statement of financial condition in business starts the statute of limitations running again,” according to Adam Klasfeld’s courtroom account of what was said.

The judge reportedly acknowledged that the Trump team was going to appeal on the issue.

While we were writing this story, the post about Greenfield disappeared from Trump’s Truth Social feed. Here it is in its original form:



Trump Truth Social post about Allison Greenfield

Later on Tuesday, Engoron issued a gag order in the trial in light of Trump’s comments about the clerk.

“Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing or speaking publicly about any of my staff,” the judge reportedly stated.

Engoron also revealed he asked Trump to take down the social post.

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Judge issues gag order against Trump over social media post calling law clerk ‘Schumer’s girlfriend’
by Kyle Schnitzer, Ben Kochman and Priscilla DeGregory
New York Post
Published Oct. 3, 2023
Updated Oct. 3, 2023, 5:51 p.m. ET

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The Manhattan judge deciding the $250 million civil fraud case against Donald Trump muzzled and sharply rebuked the former president on Tuesday for a social media post in which he took aim at a court clerk and baselessly dubbed her “Schumer’s girlfriend.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Arthur Engoron, during the second day of trial, issued a limited gag order – and threatened “serious sanctions” if the directive is ignored.

“This morning, one of the defendants posted to a social media account a disparaging, untrue post about a member of my staff,” Engoron said in court after an extended lunch break.

The missive in question was posted by Trump, 77, shortly before noon Tuesday on Truth Social and included a picture of Engoron’s longtime law clerk standing with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at a campaign event.

“Schumer’s girlfriend, Allison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me,” Trump wrote without evidence in a caption that linked to her Instagram account.

“How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!” he added.

A Schumer spokeswoman Tuesday called Trump’s post “ridiculous, absurd, and false,” saying that the senator does not know Greenfield.

“As is well known, Sen. Schumer attends countless events in every corner of the state where tens of thousands of constituents take photos with him, just like this one, which was taken at a stop at an annual brunch in Manhattan,” the statement said.

Trump also separately said Monday that Greenfield “should not be allowed to be in his ear on every single question” and claimed she “hates Trump.”

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Schumer's girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!! instagram.com/greenfield4civil...

Trump, on the second day of his $250 million civil fraud trial, posted a picture of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s clerk standing with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. realDonaldTrump/TruthSocial

The post was removed during the court’s lunch break later in the day – after Engoron said he ordered it be taken down – but was sent out via email by Trump’s 2024 campaign.

“Although I have since ordered the post to be deleted, it has been mailed out to millions of others,” the judge said.

“Consider this a gag order,” Engoron said, elaborating that the ruling relates to all parties in the case and covers verbal attacks on court staff.

“Personal attacks of my staff are inappropriate and I won’t tolerate them,” he said.

Engoron made the statements after a roughly 45-minute long closed-door meeting in the court, where media were not allowed inside.

“Yesterday, I warned counsel of this and it was disregarded,” he said. “Failure to abide by this directive will result in serious sanctions – I will be very clear.”

He didn’t elaborate further on what the sanctions would be.

Greenfield is an experienced clerk who has been with the judge for several years, according to a real estate attorney who has argued more than 100 cases before Engoron.

Engoron is known to involve his law clerks more than the typical judge does, and it’s common for him to huddle with them during a proceeding for a side conference.

Sometimes they even participate in oral arguments, asking questions of the attorneys on the judge’s behalf, said real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who has also taken the Trump Organization to court in the past, to The Post.

This means that what Trump has observed at his civil fraud trial is routine practice for Engoron and not targeted treatment.

The former president voluntarily attended the first and second day of trial in the New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit in which she claims Trump exaggerated his wealth on Trump Org financial documents from 2011 through 2021.

The former president has taken every opportunity in the presence of the press and on social media to blast the black AG as a “racist,” calling her case a sham and saying the judge is on a witch hunt against him.

In Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal “hush money” case against Trump — which is pending trial next year — Justice Juan Merchan also issued a limited gag order barring Trump from publicly discussing evidence.

Over the first two days of the ongoing trial — which is expected to last through December — prosecutors in James’ office claimed that Trump inflated his net worth for vanity’s sake so he could climb the Forbes’ list of billionaires and save hundreds of millions on loans and insurance.

The AG’s Office played clips of former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen’s deposition tapes in which he claimed his one-time boss ordered him to pump up his assets to inflate his overall worth.

Meanwhile, Trump’s side argued that the AG’s case hinges, in part, on the word of Cohen, a convicted felon and liar.

The first witness in the case, Donald Bender — a partner at accounting firm Mazars USA — has been on the witness stand through Tuesday testifying about his time working the Trump account.

On Monday, Bender testified that he’d noticed that there was a discrepancy in the valuation of Ivanka Trump’s Park Avenue penthouse on Trump’s financial statements versus the price that the daughter could have bought the unit for.

The AG has alleged that while the company listed the posh pad’s worth at over $20 million, Ivanka’s rental lease had a buy option price of just $8.5 million — another example of exaggerating his assets.

Trump’s team didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the gag order Tuesday.

Trump did not comment on the order as he left court, vowing only that he’d be back Wednesday.

“I’ll be back tomorrow. Good day — it’s been a very good day,” he told reporters.

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Trump Ordered Not to Comment on Judge’s Staff in Fraud Case: The former president attacked Justice Arthur F. Engoron’s clerk in a social media post that soon disappeared. He was called to account behind closed doors, then chastised in court as the judge issued a limited “gag order.”
by Jonah E. Bromwich
New York Times
Oct. 3, 2023

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Donald Trump sits at a courtroom table with lawyers. Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

The New York judge presiding over Donald J. Trump’s civil fraud trial ordered the former president Tuesday not to attack or even comment on court staff after Mr. Trump posted a message to social media targeting the judge’s law clerk.

Mr. Trump went after the clerk, Allison Greenfield, shortly before noon on his Truth Social site. His post was a picture of Ms. Greenfield with Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader. Mr. Trump mocked Ms. Greenfield as “Schumer’s girlfriend” and said that the case against him should be dismissed.

Mr. Trump posted his message in the midst of a trial in which he is accused by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, of inflating the value of his assets in his annual financial statements to gain favorable treatment from banks and insurance companies.

The post was taken down during a lunch break, shortly after a closed-door meeting between the parties in the room where Mr. Trump is being tried.

After the break, the judge, Arthur F. Engoron, explained what had happened, though he did not name Ms. Greenfield or Mr. Trump, referring to the former president only as a defendant.

Understand New York State’s Civil Case Against Trump

An empire under scrutiny. Letitia James, New York State’s attorney general, has been conducting a yearslong civil investigation into former President Donald Trump’s business practices, culminating in a lawsuit that accused Trump of “staggering” fraud. Here’s what to know:

The origins of the inquiry. The investigation started after Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, testified to Congress in 2019 that Trump and his employees had manipulated his net worth to suit his interests.

The findings. James detailed in a filing what she said was a pattern by the Trump Organization to inflate the value of the company’s properties in documents filed with lenders, insurers and the Internal Revenue Service.

Fraud lawsuit. In September 2022, James’s office rebuffed a settlement offer from Trump’s lawyers. Days later, she filed a lawsuit against Trump and his family business, accusing them of a sweeping pattern of fraudulent business practices.

Two key rulings. The civil trial against Trump began on Oct. 2, after a New York appeals court rejected the former president’s attempt to delay it. The decision came after the judge overseeing the case found that Trump persistently committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets and stripped him of control over some of his signature New York properties.

Possible penalties. James has argued that Trump inflated the value of his properties by as much as $2.2 billion and is seeking to recover about $250 million. The former president and his sons could also be barred from running any business in New York.

“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances,” the judge said.

Justice Engoron said that his statement should be considered a “gag order” forbidding any posts, emails or public remarks about members of his staff. He added that serious sanctions would follow were he to be disobeyed. He did not elaborate, but experts said that if the former president violates the order, the judge could fine Mr. Trump as much as $1,000 — or even hold him in jail for up to 30 days, though the chances of that happening are slim.

The former president’s social media posts have become an issue in several cases against him. Federal prosecutors who have accused Mr. Trump of seeking to overturn the 2020 election have asked a judge for a gag order, citing his threatening statements. In a criminal case against Mr. Trump in Manhattan that stems from a 2016 hush money payment to a porn star, the judge has restricted Mr. Trump’s ability to post about some evidence.

Mr. Trump has spent much of the first two days of his civil fraud trial attacking Justice Engoron and Ms. James, both Democrats. Last year, Ms. James filed the lawsuit that led to the trial, accusing Mr. Trump of “staggering fraud” by inflating the values of his assets.

In a pretrial ruling, Justice Engoron found that the former president was liable for fraud and dissolved the companies he uses to run his New York properties. What remains to be determined at trial is whether the former president and his fellow defendants are liable for other illegal acts and whether there will be further punishment. Ms. James has asked Justice Engoron to fine the defendants $250 million.

Mr. Trump has called the judge “deranged” and said that he is biased. His attack on Ms. Greenfield, which also included a link to what appeared to be Ms. Greenfield’s Instagram account, pushed the idea of Democratic collusion against him, saying that the case should be dismissed immediately.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Senator Schumer called the post “ridiculous, absurd, and false.”

“Senator Schumer does not know Ms. Greenfield,” the statement said. “As is well known, Senator Schumer attends countless events in every corner of the state where tens of thousands of constituents take photos with him, just like this one, which was taken at a stop at an annual brunch in Manhattan.”

Justice Engoron is known for keeping a lighthearted atmosphere in his courtroom, cracking jokes and making outdated pop culture references. On Tuesday, after news photographers snapped picture after picture of Mr. Trump, Justice Engoron remarked, “Oh, the wages of fame.”

He also gives unusual latitude to Ms. Greenfield, allowing her the occasional direct question to lawyers. The two have a rapport: Justice Engoron makes jokes and quips and Ms. Greenfield keeps the trains running on time

But the judge spoke gravely Tuesday as he explained the terms of his order. He noted that while Mr. Trump had taken down the Truth Social post about Ms. Greenfield, the former president’s campaign had sent out a copy in an email to millions of people.

The trial resumed soon after the judge’s stern warning with the cross-examination of a retired accountant who used to work with Mr. Trump. And Justice Engoron recovered his usual bearing quickly. Soon, he was correcting one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers on the proper pronunciation of triplex, leading many in the courtroom — Ms. James included — to laugh.

As for Mr. Trump, he sat quietly during the afternoon, occasionally making comments to his lawyers as he watched one aggressively question the accountant, Donald Bender.

After court concluded, he did not respond to questions about the judge’s order but said he would return to the trial Wednesday.

Ben Protess contributed reporting.

Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney's office, state criminal courts in Manhattan and New York City's jails. More about Jonah E. Bromwich

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Trump Is Lying to His Supporters About Gag Orders
by Brian Bennett
Time Magazine
UPDATED: OCTOBER 2, 2023 4:47 PM EDT | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 2, 2023 6:00 AM EDT

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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Donald Trump will still be able to criticize President Biden, even if a judge agrees with prosecutors’ demands for a gag order in a case in which he is charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election.

But that’s not what Trump is telling his supporters in fundraising emails. As the former President tries to boost donations to his re-election bid, he has repeatedly claimed that a proposed gag order would block him from publicly criticizing Biden. The falsehoods are part of a broader effort by Trump and his allies to frame the multiple prosecutions he is facing as politically motivated.

Some of Trump’s urgent pleas for financial support in recent days have opened with the phrase, “If Joe Biden gets his way, this would be the LAST email I send to you.” In breathless demands, peppered with liberal use of capital letters, Trump then falsely claims that Biden himself is pressuring the courts to “SILENCE and CENSOR” him. "The gag order is so broad and extreme that it would make it IMPOSSIBLE for me to speak negatively about Crooked Joe,” states one recent fundraising email from Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee. Another reads: “Crooked Joe is turning to the courts to try and impose a GAG ORDER against me and RESTRICT my right to speak out against his corrupt and tyrannical regime.”

The fundraising messages echo Trump’s legal arguments before the judge. Trump’s legal team wrote in a court filing that that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request to restrict Trump’s statements and social media postings about the case are an “obvious attempt by the Biden administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent political opponent.”

Smith has not asked the judge to silence Trump’s political speech.

In a request to the court filed on Sept. 15, Smith asked US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue a “narrowly tailored” order preventing Trump from making public statements that "pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case." If Judge Chutkan agrees, the order would restrict Trump speaking or posting on social media about “the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses” and would prohibit him from issuing “disparaging and inflammatory or intimidating statements about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors.”

Smith laid out pages of examples of statements Trump has made since he was indicted in the case in August, saying that such statements were “misleading and inflammatory” and “undermine confidence in the justice system and prejudice the jury pool.” Smith pointed to Trump’s message on his social media platform TruthSocial on Aug. 4, three days after being charged, saying “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU” and said that Trump has already “made good on his threat.” Trump has called Chutkan a “biased, Trump-hating judge,” Special Counsel Smith “deranged” and former Vice President Mike Pence, a potential witness in the case, “delusional.”

None of those points convinced Trump to stop criticizing witnesses or the judge in public. A day after Smith's initial court filing, the former President wrote on Truth Social that Pence had gone to the "Dark Side" and "made up stories."

In another message to the judge dated Sept. 29, Smith pointed out that Trump was continuing to criticize witnesses in the case, three weeks since the initial request for a gag order. Trump's "continuing public statements about witnesses are substantially likely to materially prejudice a fair trial," Smith wrote.

Smith highlighted Trump suggesting that another witness in the case, Mark Milley, the retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deserves to be executed. Trump had criticized Milley, for reportedly made phone calls to his Chinese counterpart to ease fears that the U.S. was planning to attack based on Trump's belligerent public comments, according to reporting by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in the book Peril. "This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sept. 22.

A federal judge like Chutkan has broad leeway in issuing orders restricting the speech of defendants and can issue penalties up to and including requiring that a defendant be jailed while waiting for trial. Trump's legal team will have a chance to make their case against the gag order in person on Oct. 16, when Chutkan scheduled a hearing at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, on the topic.

Judge Chutkan is empowered to issue orders to protect a fair process, protect the jury pool and court personnel and prevent the cowing of witnesses, says Harry Litman, a former federal prosecutor.

If the judge moves forward with the order Smith requested, Trump “can say pretty much whatever he wants about Biden,” Litman says, as long as Trump is not characterizing the case as a Biden prosecution “and then proceeding to trash the prosecution and witnesses.”

Separately, a Colorado judge has issued a protective order prohibiting threats and intimidation in a lawsuit seeking to bar Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential ballot. The gag order applies to all parties involved in the case, including Trump.

Trump’s campaign did not return multiple requests for comment.

The case over Trump’s actions trying to overturn the 2020 election results is set to go to trial in March. It is one of four criminal trials Trump is facing. He’s also facing charges in Georgia’s Fulton County alleging he was part of a conspiracy to fraudulently overturn Biden’s win in the state, in federal court in Florida over his handling of classified documents after he left office, and a case brought by the Manhattan district attorney over how his business accounted for a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

[admin]

Trump told to keep volume down after getting animated at New York civil fraud trial
by Jennifer Peltz and Michael R. Sisak
Associated Press
Los Angeles Times
OCT. 18, 2023 11:23 AM PT

NEW YORK — A judge warned Donald Trump and others at his New York civil fraud trial to keep their voices down Wednesday after the former president threw up his hands in frustration and spoke aloud to his lawyers while a witness was testifying against him.

Judge Arthur Engoron made the admonition after Trump conferred animatedly with his lawyers at the defense table during real estate appraiser Doug Larson’s second day of testimony at the Manhattan trial.

State lawyer Kevin Wallace asked Engoron to ask the defense to “stop commenting during the witness’ testimony,” adding that the “exhortations” were audible on the witness’ side of the room. The judge then asked everyone to keep their voices down, “particularly if it’s meant to influence the testimony.”

The 2024 Republican front-runner was in court for a second straight day Wednesday, watching the trial that threatens to upend his real estate empire and his wealthy businessman image. He attended the first three days, but skipped last week. On Tuesday, he left during an afternoon break to give a deposition in an unrelated lawsuit.

In a pretrial decision last month, Engoron ruled that Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, committed years of fraud by exaggerating his asset values and net worth on annual financial statements used to make deals and get better terms on loans and insurance.

As punishment, Engoron ordered that a court-appointed receiver take control of some Trump companies, putting the future oversight of Trump Tower and other marquee properties in question, but an appeals court has blocked that for now.

Trump didn’t talk about the case on his way into court past TV cameras Wednesday, saving his usual vitriol about New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James’ lawsuit for a morning break.

Inside the courtroom, which is closed to cameras, Trump grew irritated as Larson testified. Trump’s lawyers were seeking to undercut the state’s claims that his top corporate deputies played games to inflate the values of his properties and pad his bottom line.

In a series of questions, Trump lawyer Lazaro Fields sought to establish that Larson had, at one point, undershot the projected 2015 value of a Trump-owned Wall Street office building by $114 million. Larson said the “values were not wrong — it’s what we knew at the time.”

Trump threw up his hands during the exchange.

On Tuesday, Larson testified that he never consulted with or gave permission for the Trump Organization’s former controller, Jeffrey McConney, to cite him as an outside expert in the valuation spreadsheets he used to create Trump’s financial statements.

Fields on Wednesday accused Larson of lying, pointing to a decade-old email exchange between McConney and the appraiser.

That touched off an angry back-and-forth between the defense and state sides, with Trump lawyer Christopher Kise suggesting that Larson could risk perjuring himself and needed to be advised about his rights against self-incrimination. State lawyer Colleen Faherty called Kise’s comments “witness intimidation.”

After Larson was escorted out of the courtroom, Kise insisted that he was trying to protect the witness’ rights, while state lawyer Kevin Wallace complained that the defense was mounting “a performance” for the media. Ultimately, Engoron allowed Larson to return and answer the question with no legal warning. Larson said he didn’t recall the email.

Asked again whether he understood that McConney had asked for his input in order to carry out valuations, a weary Larson said: “That’s what it appears.”

Trump railed about that exchange during a court break.

“See what’s happened? The government lied. They just lie. They didn’t reveal all of the information that they had,” Trump said. “They didn’t reveal all the evidence that made me totally innocent of anything that they say.”

After Larson, state lawyers called Jack Weisselberg, the son of former longtime Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg. The son arranged financing for Trump while an executive at Ladder Capital.

Trump’s civil trial involves six claims in James’ lawsuit that weren’t resolved in Engoron’s pretrial ruling, including allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. Engoron will decide the case, not a jury, because state law doesn’t allow one in this type of lawsuit.

Wednesday’s dust-up was just the latest clash between Engoron and Trump.

After Trump maligned a key court staffer on social media on the trial’s second day, the judge, a Democrat, issued a limited gag order barring parties in the case from smearing members of his staff. Last year, Engoron held Trump in contempt and fined him $110,000 for being slow to respond to a subpoena from James’ office.

Trump on Tuesday said outside court that he had grown to like and respect Engoron, but that he believed Democrats were “pushing him around like a pinball.”

“It’s a very unfair situation that they put me in,” Trump said.

Jill Colvin of the Associated Press contributed to this report.

[admin]

Trump gets RIPPED in Court over Meidas Report, THREATENED with Jail
by Ben Meiselas
MeidasTouch
Oct 20, 2023

Molly Crane-Newman
@molcranenewman
Judge Engoron just asked Trump's lawyers why he shouldn't send him to jail or impose other sanctions in light of an incendiary post he ordered him to delete two weeks ago that remained online last night. Chris Kise said it was an oversight. Judge will rule later. Story TK
7:24 AM Oct 20, 2023

Ben Meiselas reports on the tongue-lashing received by Donald Trump from Judge Arthur Engoron in court on Friday following MeidasTouch's exclusive reporting that Trump violated his gag order. Engoron told Trump's lawyers he was considering imprisonment or other sanctions, and would make a decision by the end of the day.



Transcript

[Ben Meiselas] I'm Ben Meiselas from the Meidastouch
Network, and folks this is a massive
breaking news alert from the New York
attorney general civil fraud case in New
York, where Judge Engoron, who's presiding
over the case, just asked Donald Trump's
lawyers why he shouldn't send Donald
Trump to jail, or impose other sanctions,
in light of an incendiary post that
Donald Trump was ordered to take down on
October 3rd. Trump was ordered to delete
it about two weeks ago or so, but it
remained online as of last night. Donald
Trump's lawyer tried to profusely
apologize to the court. Christopher
Kise, Donald Trump's lawyer, said it was
an oversight; he was sorry. Judge Engoran
said he would rule later today. And folks,
it was a Meidastouch
exclusive that set this all off. Hat tip
to our editor-in- Chief, Ron Filipkowski,
for breaking the news. Ron Filipkowski,
editor-in-chief at Meidastouch.com,
identified that on the Donald Trump
campaign website, there was an entry that
was listed on the news section, and it
had "in case you missed it", is what it
said. And then it had the incendiary post
that Donald Trump made during the first
week of trial.

Remember When Donald Trump
showed up for two and a half days, and he
threatened Judge Engoron, and he
threatened Judge Engoron's law Clerk,
and he said that Judge Engoran's law
clerk was like having an affair with
Democratic senator Chuck Schumer, which
is 100% false, and 100% defamatory? And
then Judge Engoran called Donald Trump
and Trump's lawyers into his
chambers. Judge Engoran imposed an
immediate gag order on Donald Trump to
take down the post, and to not threaten
his court staff. But even though Donald
Trump took it down from his social media,
on Truth Social, that's what it's called,
the Donald Trump social media company --
very dystopian -- Donald Trump kept it up
on his campaign website. And Ron
Filipkowski at Meidastouch.com identifed
it. We wrote a story about it on Meidastouch.com.

It was apparently then brought
to the attention of the New York
attorney general's office, and to Judge
Engoron. An emergency hearing was held
earlier this morning in court, and Judge
Engoron asked Donald Trump's lawyers
why he shouldn't send Donald Trump to
jail immediately, or impose other
sanctions, in light of the incendiary
post Donald Trump was ordered to take
down? But ultimately didn't take down,
and that was caught by Meidastouch.

Donald Trump took down the post from his
campaign website within hours of our
reporting on Meidastouch.com, but the
New York attorney general's office
notified the court of this failure, as
the post had been up for 17 days after
the gag order was posted. The failure to
delete the post was a direct violation
of the court's gag order. And as I mentioned this morning, Trump was
lambasted by the judge.

What a great job
by Ron Filipkowski there. But most
importantly, the judge did the right
thing in informing Donald Trump's
lawyers that the consequence here could
be imprisonment -- that's certainly the
consequence that I would like to see --
a serious sanction I think would be the
next best remedy.

And for all you folks
out there, though who have said -- you know,
patreon.com, Meidasttouch.com,
doesn't have outside investors -- "Should I
support the growth of Meidastouch.com?"
Well, the proof is in the pudding at
patreon.com. Meidastouch.

Here, by the way, is
Donald Trump where he left court
during that first week, and where he
started mentioning the Judge's law clerk.
And that led to the initial gag order
being imposed. Here, play this clip.

[Donald Trump] .. very
much limited, and it amounted to about
80% of the case was won by us in the
Appellate division. And this rogue
judge, a Trump hater. The only one that
hates Trump more is his associate up
there, a person that works with him. And
she's screaming into his ear
almost every time we ask a question. It's a
disgrace. So this rogue judge refuses to
acknowledge the fact that we won 80% of
this case in the Appellate division,
including statute of limitations. You know
in the statute of limitations you have a limited
period of time. He wants to go back so
far that nobody's ever even heard of
such a ridiculous thing. So we won the
case in the Appellate division, and this
judge refuses to acknowledge the Appellate
division, meaning he's got contempt for
his own court system -- nobody's ever seen
that before -- where he refuses to even
talk about it, or acknowledge it. And the
Attorney General is a total, she's a
corrupt person, a terrible person, driving people
out of New York. Number one. That's number
one.

[Ben Meiselas] And Donald Trump was in court as
early as this week again. He was in
court this week. He lasted two and a half
days the first week. He showed up this
week, and then he said that he was stuck
in the civil court even though he wasn't
stuck there. And then he said he had to
go back to watch a golf tournament. Here,
play this clip of Donald Trump.

[Donald Trump] But this
is what we go through because they want
to keep me here instead of Iowa, New
Hampshire, South Carolina, and lots of
other great places. They want me to be
here.

[Reporter] Will you back tomorrow?

[Donald Trump] Probably
not. Probably we're having a very big
tournament, professional golf tournament
at Durell, so
probably not, yeah.

[Ben Meiselas] And that was from this
week when he showed up for a day and a
half. And then here was Donald Trump
attacking the judge again, and saying
it's all rigged this week. Play the clip.

[Donald Trump] We have no rights whatsoever. Any company
coming to New York would be crazy,
because it's a setup. This is a rigged trial.
We have a hostile group of people. We
have a very hostile judge. I hate to say
it, we have a very very hostile judge, and
and I think everybody knows that. And we
see that. but the good thing is we have
all of the evidence on our side. They
have nothing. And it's a case that should
have never been brought. I just read
many many articles saying this case is a
disgrace to our nation.

[Ben Meiselas] And there's been
devastating testimony this week, last
week, the week before, outside of "the
Donald Trump show," outside of the
theatrics. The New York attorney
general's office has been methodically
introducing evidence, showing the notations,
where statement of financial
conditions were inflated, showing that
Donald Trump's team had noticed that
they were engaged in fraudulent
financial
valuations. New York attorney general
Leticia James has called out in outside
appraisers who worked with the Trump
organization. She showed them, for example,
depositions of Eric Trump and others in
the Trump
organization stating that they
weren't involved in the appraisals, and
then the appraisers like at Cushman
and Wakefield said, "No. I worked
with them. I'm very much aware
they were involved in this process."
You have evidence, a piece of evidence,
smoking gun evidence after smoking gun
evidence. You had Jeff McConney, the former
controller of the Trump organization, say
that Allen Weisselberg ordered him to
commit fraud. You had Allen Weisselberg, the
former Chief Financial Officer, get
exposed that his severance agreement for
$2 million equaled the criminal
financial penalties he had to pay. And
that he claimed, "Oh, that was just a
coincidence." and not to withhold
testimony, even though he can't recall
anything. And then Forbes Magazine
published an expose showing that
Weisselberg was lying on the stand. And so
an independent monitor was requested to
go through the Trump organization
discovery. It's a bloodbath for
the Trump organization right now. And
with this news today that the judge may
imprison Donald Trump for violating the
gag order, just adds more to that.

And that's where we're at folks with the
Trump civil fraud case. And again
Meidastouch.com broke the story. Our
editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski, was
responsible for breaking the story. You
can go to Meidastouch.com. And if you want
to support this Independent media
platform, that has no outside investors,
that probably just broke the biggest
story in recent memory, go to patreon.com
Meidastouch. Have a great day.

[admin]

Judge TORCHES Trump after Meidas Report EXPOSED Massive Violations
by Ben Meiselas
MeidasTouch
Oct 20, 2023

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
NEW YORK COUNTY

PRESENT: HON. ARTHUR F. ENGORON

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, BY LETITIA JAMES, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK,

Plalintiff,

-v-

DONALD J. TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP JR., ERIC TRUMP, ALLEN WEISSELBERG, JEFFREY MCCONNEY, THE DONALD J. TRUMP REVOCABLE TRUST, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION INC. TRUMP ORGANIZATION LLC DJT HOLDINGS LLC, DJIT HOLDINGS MANAGING MEMBER, TRUMP ENDEAVOR 12 LLC, 401 NORTH WABASH VENTURE LLC, TRUMP OLD POST OFFICE LLC 40 WALL STREET LLC SEVEN SPRINGS LLC

Defendants

PART: 37

INDEX NO. 452564/2022

On October 3, during a break in this trial, defendant Donald Trump posted to his social media account an untrue, disparaging, and personally identifying post about my Principal Law Clerk. I spoke to defendants, both on and off the record. Off the record, I ordered Donald Trump to remove the post immediately. Approximately 10 minutes later, Donald Trump represented to me that he had taken down the offending post, and that he would not engage in similar behavior going forward. I then, on the record, imposed on all parties to this action a very limited gag order, "forbidding all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any members of my staff, "emphasizing, quite clearly, that "personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances." I further made clear that "failure to abide by this directive will result in serious sanctions."

Despite this clear order, last night I learned that the subject offending post was never removed from the website "DonaldJTrump.com," and, in fact, had been on that website for the past 17 days. I understand it was removed late last night, but only in response to an email from this Court.

Today, in open Court, counsel for Donald Trump stated that the violation of the gag order was inadvertent and was an "unfortunate part of the process that is built into the campaign structure." Giving defendant the benefit of the doubt, he still violated the gag order. Conners v. Pallozzi, 241 AD2d 719, 719 (3d Dept 1997) ("[c]ontrary to defendants' claim on appeal, a finding of civil contempt does not require a showing that such disobedience was willful").

Further, whether intentional or the result of mere "campaign structure" negligence, the effect of the post on its subject is unmitigated by how or why it remained on Donald Trump's website for 17 days. Moreover, a defendant may not evade liability for violating a court order by asserting that the violation was a result of the actions of one or more of the defendant's employees or agents.

In the current overheated climate, incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already have, led to serious physical harm, and worse.

Donald Trump has received ample warning from this Court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order. He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it. Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this Court is way beyond the "warning" stage.

Given defendant's position that the violation was inadvertent, and given that it is a first time violation, this Court will impose a nominal fee, $5,000, payable to the New York Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, within ten (10) days of the date of this order.

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 pursuant to New York Judiciary Law Section 753.

DATE: 10/20/2023

ARTHUR F. ENGORON, JSC

Non-Final Disposition

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the sanctions order issued by Justice Engoron in the New York Attorney General civil fraud case after MeidasTouch uncovered that that Donald Trump was in violation of the gag order imposed on him on October 3, 2023.



Transcript

I'm Ben Meiselas from the Meidastouch
Network. The judge presiding over the New
York attorney general's civil fraud case
against Donald Trump, Judge Arthur
Engoron, has just found that Donald Trump
violated the gag order imposed on him
back on October 3rd, by continuing to
have posts threatening Judge Engoran's
law clerk, posted on Donald Trump's
campaign website. We at Meidastouch and
Meidastouch.com editorial team, broke this
story that Donald Trump was in violation
of the gag order imposed on him. Hat tip
to our editor-in-chief at Meidastouch.com
Ron Filipkowski, who posted the story when
he identified that, although Donald Trump
removed a post after a gag order was
imposed on Donald Trump when he attended
trial for about 2 and a half days back
on October 3rd, where Donald Trump was
threatening and attacking Judge Engoron's
law clerk defaming the law clerk
by saying she was engaged in a
relationship with Democratic senator
Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump removed the
post from his social media account, but
what we uncovered at Meidastouch.com is
that Donald Trump kept it up on his
campaign website under a section for
October 3rd called, "In case you
missed it." It was a post of his threats
and attacks that he was ordered to take
down. So Meidastouch.com broke the story,
and then we learned earlier in the day
that Judge Engoron was contemplating the
remedy and the sanction, if indeed a
violation was found to have been
committed. So earlier in the day, Judge
Engoran asked Trump's lawyers why he
shouldn't send Donald Trump to jail, or
impose other sanction,s in light of the
post that Donald Trump was ordered to
delete two weeks ago that remained
online last night when MeidasTouch broke
the story. Donald Trump's lawyer, Chris
Kise, apologized to the judge said it was
an oversight that it remained up, that
they were technologically not savvy, but
Judge Engoran was not buying it.

In the order, although judge Engoran basically
said, "Look, I'm going to sanction Donald
Trump. I'm going to find him in violation
of the gag order. I'm going to, in
addition, give him this final
warning: another violation will be met
with serious sanctions, including
imprisonment, but that was the last
strike. I'm going to give Donald Trump --"

Let's pull up Judge Engoron's order
right now that was just issued. And I do
want to say this: hat tip, great work to
our editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski at
Meidastouch.com.

And by the way, if you
want to know the impact of Meidastouch,
and your contributions on
patreon.com MeidasTouch, Meidas Touch is not
funded by any outside investors. And we
are breaking stories that are so
profoundly important, like that one, and
you can see the results right there. So
by the way, go to
patreon.com meidastouch.

Let's pull up the order by Hudge Engoron right now.
Here it is:

On October 3, during a break in this trial, defendant Donald Trump posted to his social media account an untrue, disparaging, and personally identifying post about my Principal Law Clerk. I spoke to defendants, both on and off the record. Off the record, I ordered Donald Trump to remove the post immediately. Approximately 10 minutes later, Donald Trump represented to me that he had taken down the offending post, and that he would not engage in similar behavior going forward. I then, on the record, imposed on all parties to this action a very limited gag order, "forbidding all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any members of my staff, "emphasizing, quite clearly, that "personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances." I further made clear that "failure to abide by this directive will result in serious sanctions."

Despite this clear order, last night I learned that the subject offending post was never removed from the website "DonaldJTrump.com," and, in fact, had been on that website for the past 17 days. I understand it was removed late last night, but only in response to an email from this Court.

Today, in open Court, counsel for Donald Trump stated that the violation of the gag order was inadvertent and was an "unfortunate part of the process that is built into the campaign structure." Giving defendant the benefit of the doubt, he still violated the gag order.

Judge Engoran says, and he
cites a case, Conners v. Pallozzi,

("[c]ontrary to defendants' claim on appeal, a finding of civil contempt does not require a showing that such disobedience was willful").

Further, whether intentional or the result of mere "campaign structure" negligence, the effect of the post on its subject is unmitigated by how or why it remained on Donald Trump's website for 17 days. Moreover, a defendant may not evade liability for violating a court order by asserting that the violation was a result of the actions of one or more of the defendant's employees or agents.

In the current overheated climate, incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already have, led to serious physical harm, and worse.

Donald Trump has received ample warning from this Court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order. He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it. Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this Court is way beyond the "warning" stage.

Given defendant's position that the violation was inadvertent, and give that it is a first time violation, this Court will impose a nominal fee, $5,000, payable to the New York Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, within ten (10) days of the date of this order.

Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, sill 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 pursuant to New York Judiciary Law Section 753.

... for being in contempt and willfully
or otherwise violating a gag order that
is imposed on him.

So a final, if you
will warning, when it comes to
imprisonment. But I believe Donald Trump
will be violating this again. I think
that this will also be utilized by
special counsel Jack Smith and others to
show Donald Trump's continuing violations.
So the profound import of this on
all of the cases cannot be
understated.

And by the way, Donald Trump
removed the offending post, again, I will
share with you, you remember this video
right here where Donald Trump stated
that he's goo, "I'm
happy to go to prison; I'm happy to go to
prison for democracy." And
he tries to weaponize the love that we all have of
democracy as he's trying to tear it down,
to say that. But, by the way, we're
good. Go for it, Donald. But
remember when he said this? Play the clip.

[Donald Trump] I am willing to go to jail if that's
what it takes for our country to win and
become a democracy again.

[Ben Meiselas] Right? So Donald
Trump said that, but very quickly then,
when he was confronted with his
violations of the gag order, he removed
the post right away.

And we continue
to review the record, his conduct, and we
believe, and we are finalizing our
research here as well, and we should be
posting another story on Meidastouch.com
soon, that there was another violation of
the gag order. And we will be posting
about that shortly. Our research team is
finalizing it. So I don't want to get
ahead of myself here, but we believe
there to be another serious violation by
one of Donald Trump's codefendants here,
and we will be making that public
shortly.

I want to thank you for your
support of MeidasTouch
because that has led to uncovering this.
And we will continue this independent
journalism that you're not getting
anywhere else. It's resulted in a judge
issuing an order finding Donald Trump in
violation of the gag order, sanctioning
Donald Trump, and telling him that if
this were to happen again, it will result
in imprisonment.

Now, you may say he
should have been imprisoned already. And
I think we can have that discussion. And
I think that you would feel, you would
be justified in believing that. But I
think this is an important step in
showing that he's not above the law for
now. And when there is another violation --
you know, I think that there will be --
appropriate remedies will be
issued.

So thank you for your support of
Meidastouch.com, and again, go to
patreon.com meidastouch right now. We
have no outside investors, so this is how
we build it. And we've built such a
strong editorial team led by Ron Filipkowski.
Go to patreon.com meidastouch
now, and have a great day.

[admin]

Meidas UNCOVERS More Trump VIOLATIONS after Court Issues SANCTIONS
by Ben Meiselas
MeidasTouch
Oct 21, 2023

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on more violations of the gag order by the Trumps in the New York attorney general civil fraud case.

Transcript

I'm Ben Meiselas from the MeidasTouch Network. We at MeidasTouch have just uncovered what appears to be another violation of the gag order imposed on Donald Trump, and all defendants, in the New York attorney general civil fraud case against Donald Trump, which just wrapped up week three of trial. You will recall, of course, that MeidasTouch.com, through our editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski, was responsible for exposing that a gag order imposed on Donald Trump on October 3rd was violated by Donald Trump. Specifically, the gag order prevented Donald Trump, and all parties, from threatening, attacking, or otherwise demeaning the court staff. And that followed Donald Trump making a post on his social media platform that attacked the presiding Judge Engoron's principal law Clerk, and defamed her, and implied that she was involved in a relationship with Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. Judge Engoran ordered Donald Trump to remove that post from his social media platform, which he did, but he left the post on his campaign website under a section called "in case you missed it," and it remained on there for 17 days. MeidasTouch.com broke that story, and again, thank you for everybody who has supported the MeidasTouch networks's independent journalism at patreon.com MeidasTouch. You see the important work that's being done there. We don't have outside investors, but after we exposed that on MeidasTouch.com, Judge Engoron issued a $5,000 sanction against Donald Trump, and said that they were beyond warnings, and that any future attempt by Donald Trump, or others, to engage in this conduct, would be met by potential imprisonment and other sanctions.

So enter Don Jr. Now remember, the order at issue, the gag order, applies to all parties. Donald Trump's codefendant, Don Jr, would be part of "all parties" in the gag order. Soon after Judge Engoron alerted the parties that he was aware of Donald Trump's continuing violation of the gag order, on Friday, Don Jr immediately reposted from a website, from a far rightwing website called "The National Pulse." Now The National Pulse attacked MeidasTouch, attacked Judge Engoran, and basically implied, or perhaps even directly stated, falsely and in a very defamatory way, that MeidasTouch was ordering Judge Engoran to do it, and Judge Engoran was following what MeidasTouch was telling him, which is just 100% absolutely false. Frankly, that's accusing MeidasTouch of engaging in a crime. It's accusing Judge Engoron of engaging in a crime. It's preposterous, and just again, just deeply, deeply defamatory. Also, it states that MeidasTouch.com is a "far-left wing PAC." We're not far-leftwing; we're not a PAC, we are a media network that focuses on pro-democracy independent journalism. And then they said, "Oh, on the MeidasTouch blog -- whatever makes you happy National Pulse -- but in any event, whatever it is.

But let's focus on the violation of the gag order by Don Jr. The violation of the gag order comes in the article that Don Jr posted, where here's what the article says that Don Jr posted:

Judge Threatens Trump With Jail Mid-Trial After Democrat PAC Complained He Breached Gag Order.

Judge Arthur Engoron threatened to throw former President Trump in jail on Friday morning, responding to a Democrat political action committee (PAC) that claimed Trump's campaign website breached a recently imposed gag order after Trump highlighted Engoron's staff's relationship with Senator Chuck Schumer. The unprecedented incident underscores the partisan nature of the trial against Trump, with Engoron appearing to take his marching orders from the far-left PAC known as "MeidasTouch."

It says right here -- you'll see the red highlights -- "Donald Trump highlighted Engoron's staff's relationship with Senator Chuck Schumer. The unprecedented incident underscores the partisan nature of the trial against Trump, with Engoron appearing to take his marching orders from the far-left PAC known as "MeidasTouch," is what they say.

And again, I don't care, I mean, I I do care a little bit about it. I don't want him to defame us, because I care about the Meidas Mighty Community out there. And anytime they try to attack us, I know that it's upsetting to the community. So that's where I care more about it.

Let's talk about the violation of the gag order by Don Jr. So from today's order, by Judge Engoron, he emphasized the scope of what the gag order is. And this is what Judge Engoron said in today's order as it related to Donald Trump's violation of the gag order. Judge Engoron wrote on October 3rd, during a break in this trial,

On October 3, during a break in this trial, defendant Donald Trump posted to his social media account an untrue, disparaging, and personally identifying post about my Principal Law Clerk. I spoke to defendants, both on and off the record. Off the record, I ordered Donald Trump to remove the post immediately. Approximately 10 minutes later, Donald Trump represented to me that he had taken down the offending post, and that he would not engage in similar behavior going forward. I then, on the record, imposed on all parties to this action a very limited gag order, "forbidding all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any members of my staff, "emphasizing, quite clearly, that "personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances." I further made clear that "failure to abide by this directive will result in serious sanctions."

Despite this clear order, last night I learned that the subject offending post was never removed from the website "DonaldJTrump.com," and, in fact, had been on that website for the past 17 days. I understand it was removed late last night, but only in response to an email from this Court.

Today, in open Court, counsel for Donald Trump stated that the violation of the gag order was inadvertent and was an "unfortunate part of the process that is built into the campaign structure." Giving defendant the benefit of the doubt, he still violated the gag order....

Further, whether intentional or the result of mere "campaign structure" negligence, the effect of the post on its subject is unmitigated by how or why it remained on Donald Trump's website for 17 days. Moreover, a defendant may not evade liability for violating a court order by asserting that the violation was a result of the actions of one or more of the defendant's employees or agents.

In the current overheated climate, incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already have, led to serious physical harm, and worse.

Donald Trump has received ample warning from this Court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order.

And then the Court goes on to say:

He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it. Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this Court is way beyond the "warning" stage.

Given defendant's position that the violation was inadvertent, and give that it is a first time violation, this Court will impose a nominal fee, $5,000, payable to the New York Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, within ten (10) days of the date of this order.

Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, sill 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 pursuant to New York Judiciary Law Section 753.

So again, let's just do some analysis here together. Going back to the first paragraph here, what Judge Engoron makes clear is that the gag order is:

imposed on all parties to this action a very limited gag order, "forbidding all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any members of my staff, "emphasizing, quite clearly, that "personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable.

So here's the repost by Don Jr. It says:

Donald Trump Jr. reposted
Rahem.
@RaheemKassam
This is an absolute disgrace.
Arthur Engoron is acting on the orders of Democrat PAC 'Meidas Touch'.
They're even gloating about it on their blog.

This is an absolute disgrace.
Arthur Engoron is acting on the orders of Democrat PAC 'Meidas Touch'.
They're even gloating about it on their blog.

Like they call it a "blog." We probably get more people who watch and look at our media, our website, and our digital media on YouTube, in maybe a few hours, than they probably get in a full month. But if that makes them feel happy, okay. But when you go, especially he's attacking Judge Engoron, but then when you get into what the article says, tell me, do you believe this is attacking Judge Engoron and Engoron's staff?

The article says:

Trump highlighted Engoron's staff's relationship with Senator Chuck Schumer. The unprecedented incident underscores the partisan nature of the trial against Trump, with Engoron appearing to take his marching orders from ... MeidasTouch.

So he attacks his staff. I mean, it's again perpetuating false and defamatory information that Judge Engoron and Engoron's staff has a relationship with Chuck Schumer. So it's attacking Judge Engoron and Engoron's staff. It's very clear that Don Jr is posting that.

Also you could say that Don Jr, by reposting the tweet, or the X, or whatever it is, attacking Judge Engoron, and then trying to undermine Judge Engoron's gag order, is itself an attack on Judge Engoron's staff by trying to falsely claim that this is some partisan thing, and the partisan nature of this. No! Donald Trump threatened the Judge's law clerk; that violated the law; Judge Engoron imposed a gag order; and Donald Trump continued to be in violation. It's not a partisan thing.

So by trying to undermine the gag order, one could argue that that is also an attack on Judge Engoron's staff. But the more direct argument here is that the article literally says that "Trump highlighted Engoron's staff's relationship with Senator Chuck Schumer, and the unprecedented incident underscores the partisan nature of the trial against Trump." So by Don Jr posting that, I mean, that doesn't require, I think, a deeper legal analysis to see that in my opinion, I think you agree that this would be a violation of the protective order, I mean of the gag order.

So there you have it right there, folks. And we're publishing this of course on MeidasTouch.com. And again, we appreciate your support of MeidasTouch.com, and our ability to do this independent journalism. If you want to support it, you see the results that are coming from this. Go to patreon.com patreon.com MeidasTouch. And have a great day.