Engoron wrote in a two-page order that while Trump’s lawyers had called the violation of the gag order “inadvertent,” “the effect of the post on its subject is unmitigated by how or why it remained on Donald Trump’s website for 17 days.”
“In the current overheated climate, incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already have, led to serious physical harm, and worse,” Engoron wrote.
In stern terms, he warned Trump against further violating the order. “Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include, but are not limited to, steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of course, and possibly imprisoning him,” Engoron wrote.
The judge’s Oct. 3 gag order barred Trump from making comments about court staff after the former president’s Truth Social post, which included a picture of Engoron’s clerk, Allison Greenfield. The post claimed that Greenfield was “running this case” and was “Schumer’s girlfriend.” The post was also sent to Trump’s campaign email list.
Prior to issuing the gag order, the judge had ordered Trump “off the record” to remove the social media post, which he did. On Thursday night, however, the judge wrote, he learned that the post had remained on the website DonaldJTrump.com. It was removed Thursday night, the judge wrote, “but only in response to an email from this Court.”
Though the fine amounts to a nominal fee for Trump, it is the first formal punishment he has received for violating a gag order, which he is under not only in the civil fraud case but also in a federal criminal case in Washington, D.C.
There, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan barred Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and court staff involved in the criminal case, saying that “his presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify … public servants who are simply doing their job.” Trump has appealed Chutkan’s gag order, and on Friday evening, Chutkan put the gag order temporarily on hold while she weighs Trump’s request for a longer-term stay as the appeal proceeds.
