NY AG’s office: Reinstating Trump gag order is 'necessary to ensure the safety' of court staff

A top official in the New York Attorney General's Office (OAG) is asking for the New York Supreme Court to reinstate former President Trump's gag order, arguing that it's necessary to keep court staff safe in the wake of Trump's attacks on social media.

The former president is petitioning the court to halt the gag orders imposed on him during the ongoing civil fraud trial concerning his business empire, following Trump's continued attacks on Judge Arthur Engoron's law clerk, Allison Greenfield. The Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery tweeted a filing petitioning the court to deny Trump's request for a stay on the gag orders by Dennis Fan, who is a Senior Assistant Solicitor General for the OAG. In the filing, Fan said the court should reinstate the gag orders as soon as possible "to ensure the safety of the Supreme Court's staff" and the "integrity" of court proceedings.

"Courts have the power to impose reasonable restrictions on both litigants and their attorneys during ongoing proceedings when necessary to safeguard those important interests," Fan argued, adding that Trump's First Amendment arguments don't apply if he "threatens the safety of the court's staff."

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After the gag orders were temporarily lifted, the 45th president of the United States took to his Truth Social page – which has nearly 6.5 million followers – to attack both Judge Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"Judge Arthur Engoron, the most overturned and stayed Judge in the State, and the Racist New York State Attorney General, the most corrupt & incompetent A.G. in the Country (Violent Crime Is Raging!), have FRAUDULENTLY Undervalued my properties, by many times, in order to make me look bad, and make the Judge’s original ridiculous finding of Fraud look 'reasonable,' which it does not," Trump wrote on Wednesday. "This Judicial and Prosecutorial corruption and misconduct took place BEFORE THE TRIAL EVEN STARTED, & WITHOUT ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THE CASE. Judge Engoron just did what the highly partisan A.G. told him to do. He is her complete and total puppet!"

Trump's continued attacks on Judge Engoron, AG James, and Greenfield have resulted in some of his most devoted supporters sending threatening communications, including one that read "you should be assassinated." According to a court document tweeted by Law360 reporter Frank Runyeon, Greenfield has been subjected to "daily doxing" of her personal information following Trump's attacks.

"[Greenfield] has been subjected to, on a daily basis, harassing, disparaging comments and antisemitic tropes. I have been informed by Ms. Greenfield that she has been receiving approximately 20-30 calls per day to her personal cell phone and approximately 30-50 messages per day on combined sites of social media, Linkedln and two (2) personal email addresses," the document read. "Ms. Greenfield also informed me that since the interim stay was issued lifting the gag orders on November 16, 2023, approximately half of the harassing and disparaging messages have been antisemitic."

READ MORE: 'You should be assassinated': Judge and clerk 'inundated' with 'credible' threats after Trump rant

Judge Engoron has penalized Trump with two fines for violations of his gag order — one for $5,000 and one for $10,000. However, he has not yet ordered the former president to be jailed in contempt of court. The trial is expected to conclude in the coming weeks.