Despite the ban on insults, former US President Trump described the court as biased in front of the hearing room of his civil trial. When the judge asks him about it, he says he meant it differently – at least a little. Trump still has to pay.
The judge in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial has fined him for statements he made outside the courtroom.
Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $10,000. He found that Trump had violated an order banning personal attacks on court employees.
Trump’s attempt at an explanation
Engoron called Trump to the witness stand to have the ex-president explain statements he had made to reporters outside the courtroom shortly beforehand. Trump had spoken of Engoron, a Democrat, “as a very partisan judge, with a person sitting next to him who is very partisan, perhaps even more partisan than himself.”
He was apparently referring to one of the judge’s employees who sat next to Engoron during the hearing. The candidate for the Republican presidential nomination replied that he was referring to his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, who testified in the trial.
However, Engoron said this claim was “not credible.” “The idea that the statement refers to the witness doesn’t make any sense to me,” Engoron said. During the two-minute questioning, Trump repeated his accusation that the employee, who roughly plays the role of a legal secretary, had something against him: “I think she is very prejudiced against us. I think we made that clear.”
Not the first fine against Trump
Shortly afterwards, Trump stood up and left the courtroom – accompanied by his son Eric. The ex-president voluntarily took part in Cohen’s questioning and was allowed to leave the hearing. It was the second time in less than a week that Trump was called out for extrajudicial statements. Engoron had already ordered on October 3 that none of the litigants could make public statements about court officials.
Trump had previously attacked the judge’s employee on social networks. Because the relevant post continued to be read on Trump’s campaign website for weeks after the judge’s order, he was fined $5,000 on Friday.
Judges take action against Trump’s verbal gaffes
The civil lawsuit accuses Trump of misrepresenting the value of his real estate holdings in financial documents that, among other things, helped him obtain loans.
Last week, the judge in Trump’s criminal trial for election interference in Washington also banned the defendant from making public statements about prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s order came after prosecutors raised concerns about Trump’s verbal attacks.