Trump gag order in fraud case reinstated by New York appeals court

Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends trial in a civil fraud case that state Attorney General Letitia James brought against him, his adult sons, the Trump Organization and others, in New York City, Oct. 3, 2023.

Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

A New York appeals court Thursday reinstated a gag order on Donald Trump in the former president’s $250 million civil business fraud trial.

The order bars Trump from making public statements about the staff of Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the ongoing trial.

Engoron had imposed the gag order on Trump after Trump repeatedly targeted the judge’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield.

Engoron later imposed a similar gag order on Trump’s attorneys, barring them from making any public statements about confidential communications between the judge and his staff. The gag orders on Trump’s attorneys were also reinstated Thursday.

Engoron has said his chambers have been “inundated” with threats and harassment against him and his staff during the trial. An official who monitors threats for the New York Court System’s Department of Public Safety told the appeals court in a sworn statement that Trump’s comments about Greenfield have prompted “hundreds” of threatening messages, many of which were antisemitic.

In its ruling Thursday, a four-judge appellate panel lifted a temporary suspension of the gag orders on Trump and his attorneys that was put in place while Trump appealed the speech restrictions.

The gag orders are now likely to stay in place for the remainder of the trial, which is expected to last until mid-January.

Engoron acknowledged the ruling in court and informed the parties in the case that he intends to “enforce the gag orders rigorously and vigorously.”

Trump attorney Christopher Kise said the appeals court’s ruling marked a “tragic day for the rule of law” in a statement to NBC News.

“Hard to imagine a more unfair process and hard to believe this is happening in America,” Kise said, claiming the ruling prevents Trump from publicly explaining why he believes his trial is unfair.

The appellate ruling came three days after Trump’s attorneys urged the appeals court not to reimpose the gag orders, arguing that they unconstitutionally blocked Trump from accusing Engoron and Greenfield of political bias.

Engoron has found Trump in violation of his gag order twice, imposing a total of $15,000 in fines on the former president since the fraud trial began in early October.

The narrow order does not block Trump from attacking Engoron or New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case accusing him and his co-defendants of falsely inflating Trump’s assets for financial gain.

Trump has repeatedly attacked both of them, casting the judge as a Trump “hater” and decrying the case as a “witch hunt.”

On Wednesday, Trump sent at least six separate Truth Social posts targeting Engoron’s wife, accusing her of criticizing Trump and commenting on the trial on X, formerly Twitter.

Engoron’s wife told Newsweek earlier this month that she does not have an account on X and has not posted any anti-Trump messages. After the gag orders were reinstated, Office of Court Administration spokesman Al Baker said that the judge’s wife “has sent no social media posts regarding the former president.”

“They are not hers,” Baker said in a statement, NBC reported.

Trump sent at least three additional posts Thursday claiming that Engoron’s wife sent anti-Trump social media messages.