Former U.S. President Donald Trump returns from a short break to speak to members of the media upon arrival to the court on day two of his Civil Fraud Trial, Manhattan Supreme Court, New York, NY, October 3, 2023. (Photo by Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images); (right) the post about presiding Justice Arthur’s law clerk that Trump shared on Truth Social.
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday decided to send a Truth Social post during his New York fraud civil trial attacking Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s principal law clerk as Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D) “girlfriend,” sharing an image of Allison Greenfield and Schumer smiling in a photograph and linking to her Instagram profile.
“Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison [sic] R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately,” the post said.
While the move is to legal observers likely to spark more gag order talk, as Trump’s social media postings have in his Jan. 6 federal criminal case, the former president is predictably posting about Allison Greenfield while sharing a photo of her with Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, to signal to his supporters that they, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Judge Engoron (D) are playing politics to destroy his family business.
Trump is publicly attacking Engoron’s clerk on Truth Social. He desperately is asking for a gag order.
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) October 3, 2023
If there was any doubt about Trump’s intentions behind the Truth Social post, he promptly called more attention to the post outside of the courthouse and hailed it as proof of a “witch hunt.”
BREAKING: Donald Trump says that the current court case against him, which accuses him of fraud, is “rigged”.
He adds “you saw what was just put out about Schumer and the principal clerk”, as he continues to claim the trial is a “witch-hunt”.
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/vco445qW4b
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 3, 2023
“You saw what was just put out about Schumer and the principal clerk. That is disgraceful,” Trump said.
Trump and his supporters have already bristled at the fact he faces a bench trial in the $250 million civil fraud lawsuit before a judge he attacked as a “ROGUE, OUT OF CONTROL, TRUMP HATING JUDGE.” But the judge made clear Monday that “nobody asked for” a jury trial, including Trump’s lawyers Christopher Kise and Alina Habba.
Even if there was a jury trial, you could safely bet that Trump would argue he couldn’t get a fair trial in liberal Manhattan.
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Engoron’s partial summary judgment in James’ favor last week found that the former president inflated his net worth by billions and overestimated the value of his Trump Tower triplex apartment by “a factor of three.”
That, Engoron said, “can only be considered fraud.”
As part of his summary judgment ruling, Engoron found Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization liable for fraud, canceled business certificates, appointed retired Judge Barbara S. Jones as an independent monitor for the Trump Organization, and ordered the parties in the case to “recommend the names of no more than three potential independent receivers to manage the dissolution of the canceled LLCs.”
On Monday, Trump took to Truth Social to call Letitia James a “RACIST” and repeated the claim that the judge “REFUSES TO FOLLOW THE APPELLATE COURT DECISION WHICH KNOKS [sic] OUT 80% OF THIS SHAM CASE.”
Later Monday, the former president said it was a “[g]ood day at trial today as the judge will be honoring the Appellate Court’s unanimous decision on the Statute of Limitations! This reduces the case by approximately 80%.”
The judge reportedly shot down the claim that he’d reversed himself on the statute of limitations issue Tuesday, saying, “Every use of a [false] statement of financial condition in business starts the statute of limitations running again,” according to Adam Klasfeld’s courtroom account of what was said.
The judge reportedly acknowledged that the Trump team was going to appeal on the issue.
While we were writing this story, the post about Greenfield disappeared from Trump’s Truth Social feed. Here it is in its original form:
Later on Tuesday, Engoron issued a gag order in the trial in light of Trump’s comments about the clerk.
“Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing or speaking publicly about any of my staff,” the judge reportedly stated.
Engoron also revealed he asked Trump to take down the social post.
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