Trump fined $5,000 for social media post violating gag order in fraud trial

A New York judge fined former US president Donald Trump $5,000 (€4,700) on Friday after a disparaging social media post about a key court staffer in his New York civil fraud case was allowed to linger on his campaign website after the judge ordered it deleted.

Judge Arthur Engoron avoided holding Mr Trump in contempt, for now, but reserved the right to do so – and possibly even put him in jail – if he continued to violate a gag order barring parties in the case from personal attacks on court staff.

Mr Engoron said in a written ruling that Mr Trump was “way beyond the ‘warning’ stage”, but decided on a nominal fine because Trump’s lawyers said the website’s retention of the post was inadvertent and was a “first time violation”.

“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional,” will lead to “far more severe sanctions”, including “possibly imprisoning” Mr Trump, wrote the judge.

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Mr Engoron issued a gag order against Mr Trump on the second day of the trial earlier this month after he attacked the judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, in a social media post. Ms Greenfield has been assisting the judge throughout the trial, usually sitting next to the judge in the courtroom.

“Why is Judge Engoron’s Principal Law Clerk, Allison R Greenfield, palling around with Chuck Schumer?” Mr Trump posted on social media, along with a picture of her with Mr Schumer and linking to her personal Instagram page.

Mr Engoron had ordered Mr Trump to remove the post and to cease posting about court staff, though the post remained on his campaign website weeks later.

Mr Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise apologised to the judge for the violation saying that Mr Trump’s “campaign machinery” forgot to take down the post.

“There was no intention to evade or circumvent or ignore the order,” Mr Kise said, adding the post had been taken down.

The judge’s ruling came in a week when he had already warned Mr Trump and his lawyers to behave in court. Next week Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former lawyer and now a key witness in the case against the former president, will testify in court. – Guardian