New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the civil case against former President Donald Trump for allegedly inflating the value of his real estate holdings, issued a gag order against Trump yesterday after his postings on Truth Social attacking Engoron’s clerk, Alison Greenfield, for “running the case against me.” Trump also called the case “disgraceful,” and “a scam” and demanded that it be “dismissed immediately,” as it is intended to “hurt me in an election.”
It’s clear that the gag order is intended to silence Trump politically, and/or jail him if he fails to obey. It forbids all parties in the suit from posting, emailing or “speaking publicly about any of my staff,” the judge said. “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them in any circumstances.” He ordered Trump to remove an Instagram posting he made of Greenfield with Sen. Chuck Schumer and warned that Trump would face further “serious sanctions” should he issue any more threats or public comments against the judge, his staff, or the court where he is on trial, Fox News reported.
As Forbes noted today, a gag order issued by any judge is always carefully watched by other jurisdictions, and in Trump’s case, another gag order is likely to come from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal election case charging Trump with trying to overthrow the 2020 election. A gag order here would prohibit Trump from making any comments that present “a serious and substantial danger of prejudicing the jury” and the case.
“Concerns” are also being hyped about the safety of jurors in the four trials, because of Trump’s claims that he won’t “get a fair trial,” which could be used to motivate more gag orders.
