Former President Donald Trump made comments about court staff in his fraud trial, so the judge issued him a gag order.
This is not surprising.
“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, roughly 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 claimed that he had warned Trump “off the record” about making such comments. The former president obviously ignored the warning.
After Trump posted the material online Tuesday, Engoron ordered him to delete the post. Following the order, it quickly disappeared from 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.”
Tuesday, Trump posted a message claiming that Greenfield “is running this case against me.” The message was pulled from an account on X. 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.”
Not long after, Trump’s campaign sent out his social media post in an email blast.
Since the start of the trial on Monday, Greenfield has been sitting directly to the right of Engoron, which places her directly facing Trump. She resumed that same seat Tuesday afternoon, as Engoron read the gag order.
As written earlier, this is not surprising. If there is anything we know about former President Trump, he does what he wants. Often times, that includes speaking when he is not supposed to.
To hear Tony Katz’s thoughts on the gag order and other things that had him a little salty today, click the link below.
