Trump takes NYC witness stand, fined $10K for gag order violation
Ashley Oliver
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Former President Donald Trump was called to the witness stand on Wednesday during a civil fraud trial in New York City to answer questions related to a gag order, and a judge said he found the former president’s responses not “credible” and fined him $10,000 for violating the order.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, issued the fine after Trump made a comment to the press about a person “sitting alongside” Engoron, which Engoron suspected was a reference to his clerk, according to a reporter from Politico who was sitting in the courtroom.
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The fine is the second Trump has received for violating the order, which Engoron issued on Oct. 3 in response to the former president targeting clerk Allison Greenfield on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump had posted a photo of Greenfield and a link to her Instagram account, baselessly referring to her as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) girlfriend.
“Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield [sic], is running this case against me. How disgraceful!” Trump wrote in the now-deleted post. “This case should be dismissed immediately!!”
The first fine, which was $5,000 and issued last week, came after Engoron discovered Trump had left the same remarks about Greenfield on his campaign website despite deleting them from Truth Social.
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Engoron indicated in a court filing that the fine was lenient and that harsher penalties could follow.
“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions,” Engoron wrote, noting that prison was one possible punishment.
This story is developing.