The judge presiding over the New York fraud trial involving Donald Trump recently expressed concern about the former president potentially facing jail time due to his clear violation of a previously issued gag order. New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron made these remarks during a court session when it was brought to his attention that Trump had not deleted a post related to the judge’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, despite being ordered to do so on October 3rd.
According to Newsmax, Engoron emphasized, “I ordered him to promptly remove the post, and he assured me that he had done so. However, I discovered last night that the problematic post had not been taken down from the DonaldJTrump.com website and had, in fact, remained there for the past 17 days. This constitutes a blatant breach of the gag order, and I made it explicitly clear that non-compliance would result in significant penalties.”
The judge also pointed out the potential consequences of spreading false and incendiary information, citing the potential for causing serious harm. He added, “I am willing to hear the defendant’s explanation for this violation and why it should not result in severe penalties, possibly including imprisonment.”
In response, Trump’s attorney, Christopher Kise, claimed that this oversight was unintentional. Kise acknowledged that the post linking Greenfield to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was mistakenly left on the campaign website, despite its removal from Truth Social, and offered an apology on behalf of his client.
The post in question read, “Why is Judge Engoron’s Principal Law Clerk, Allison R. Greenfield, palling around with Chuck Schumer?” This post had led to the issuance of a limited gag order.
Justice Engoron concluded the session by stating, “I will take this matter under advisement, but I want to emphasize that Donald Trump remains responsible for his extensive operations, regardless of their size.”