Judge broaches idea of jailing Trump for defying gag order
The Manhattan judge presiding over Donald Trump’s fraud case on Friday asked why he shouldn’t send the former president to jail in light of an inflammatory online post he ordered him to delete two weeks ago that remained online through Thursday evening.
State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, on the second day of Trump’s fraud trial, prohibited Trump and everyone involved in his case from publicly commenting on his court staff.
The limited gag order came down after Trump published an incendiary post on his social media site Truth Social about Engoron’s chief law clerk, Allison Greenfield, including a picture of her and an inaccurate description saying she was New York Sen. Chuck Schumer’s girlfriend.
Over two weeks after Engoron issued the order, it was still online late Thursday.
“Despite this clear order,” Engoron said in court Friday, “I learned that the offensive post was never removed from the website.”
Engoron asked why he shouldn’t follow through on his promise to impose severe sanctions — including jail. The post about Engoron’s principal law clerk remained online on Trump’s website — it was deleted from Truth Social. It was also emailed to millions from Trump’s campaign.
Trump’s lawyer, Chris Kise, argued that the post had been removed from Truth Social and that it remaining on Trump’s website, DonaldJTrump.com, had been an oversight.
Engoron noted this kind of rhetoric “in some cases already has led to serious physical harm and worse.”Engoron said he would rule later on the matter.