Judge Engoron considers 'imprisoning' Trump for 'blatant violation of gag order' in bank fraud trial
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing former President Donald Trump's bank fraud trial in New York, may end up throwing the former president in jail for violating a gag order he imposed earlier this month.
According to the Daily Beast, the judge said Trump may serve time behind bars in contempt of court and/or face staggering fines during a tense hearing Friday morning, after he was found to have been in violation of a direct order to not attack court staff.
“In the current overheated climate, incendiary comments can and in some cases already has, led to serious physical harm and worse," Judge Engoron said. "I will now allow the defendants to explain why this blatant violation of the gag order would not result in serious sanctions, including financial sanctions and/or possibly imprisoning him."
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At issue was a post to Truth Social in which the former president shared one of his supporter's tweets attacking attorney Allison Greenfield, who is one of Engoron's clerks, for supposedly "palling around with" Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York). The post also linked to Greenfield's personal Instagram, allowing the former president's vast legion of followers to have a direct way of harassing her.
Trump's legal team argued that the post itself was pulled from Truth Social, but that it inadvertently stayed up on Trump's official website, DonaldJTrump.com, for 17 days. Trump attorney Christopher Kise blamed complex "campaign machinery" for the supposed oversight.
"There was no intention to evade or circumvent or ignore the order. I assure you that. I just know that this is a very large machine and this is one of the reasons, frankly, I don't have social media," Kise said. "But that’s been taken down. And we don't have any other… there were no subsequent postings."
While Judge Engoron said he would take Kise's comments "under advisement," he still reminded the defense that their client was nonetheless "responsible for the large machine."
READ MORE: 'Akin to a doctor's note': Why Trump's fraud trial 'stands apart' from his other court battles
Trump is in the midst of a trial as the defendant in a civil lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The State of New York is accusing the Trump Organization of artificially inflating the value of its real estate portfolio in order to gain preferential tax benefits, loans, and insurance rates. If Trump is found guilty, he could be liable for up to $250 million in damages, and both he and his adult sons would be banned from serving as officers of any New York-based company in the future.
