Donald Trump again attacked a New York judge’s law clerk online on Wednesday
By Sam Cabral
BBC News, Washington
A US court has reinstated a gag order that prevents Donald Trump and his team from criticising court personnel in his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the trial and claims his chambers have been “inundated” with threats, had issued the limited order in October.
But it was put on hold two weeks ago by an appellate judge, who said he had concerns over free speech rights.
Mr Trump’s attorney said it marks “a tragic day for the rule of law”.
“In a country where the First Amendment is sacrosanct, President Trump may not even comment on why he thinks he cannot get a fair trial,” Christopher Kise told the BBC’s US partner CBS News on Thursday.
“Hard to imagine a more unfair process and hard to believe this is happening in America.”
Judge Engoron imposed the gag order after Mr Trump posted disparaging remarks about the judge’s principal law clerk, with her name, photo and a link to her social media, as he sat in court on the trial’s second day.
Following the order, Mr Trump’s lawyers sued the judge and called for a mistrial over “astonishing departures from ordinary standards of impartiality”.
An appeals court judge in New York temporarily lifted the gag order over “the constitutional and statutory rights at issue”.
But a four-person appeals court panel upheld Judge Engoron’s limited gag order on Thursday.
“I intend to enforce the gag orders rigorously and vigorously, and I want to make sure counsel informs their client,” Judge Engoron said in court.
But how he will do so is less clear. He has already fined Mr Trump $15,000 (£12,000) over violations and even extended the order to include his attorneys.
Watch: Trump attacks prosecutors before testifying and calls trial political ‘lawfare’
In a trial that poses a threat to his real-estate empire, the former president has argued that Judge Engoron is “biased” and will likely rule against him in the end anyway.
Mr Trump is closely following the court proceedings, in person on some days and with critical online commentary on others.
On Thursday, Mr Trump posted critical statements about Judge Engoron’s wife and adult son, skirting the ban on criticising court employees, and called the case “the most unfair Trial in the History of New York, and I’ve had some pretty unfair Trials!”
A day earlier, on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump had slammed what he referred to as the judge’s “very disturbed and angry law clerk”.
The judge and lead prosecutor, New York Attorney General Letitia James, “should be impeached and removed from office”, he argued in another post.
The former president, his two adult sons and the wider Trump Organization are accused of massively inflating the value of their properties by over $2bn, in order to secure favourable loans.
Should they lose, the Trumps face $250m (£201m) in fines and the possible dissolution of their New York real estate empire.
Defence lawyers are currently making arguments, with the former president expected to return to the stand in December before his lawyers rest their case.
This week a witness for Deutsche Bank, which the former president is accused of defrauding, testified that his over-valuations of property did not affect their loan terms and he never missed a payment.
The high-profile trial in Manhattan, which has also seen three of Mr Trump’s adult children testify, is not expected to conclude until January.
Mr Trump, the Republican frontrunner for president, is also fighting a gag order in the federal case in Washington DC that charges him with meddling in the 2020 election.
That limited order, which bars him for targeting court staff, prosecutors or potential witnesses, is currently under appeal.
