Former President Donald Trump speaks during a break in his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in New York. NEW YORK — — The judge in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial fined the former president $10,000 on Wednesday, saying Trump violated a limited gag order barring personal attacks on court staffers.
The judge ordered Trump to take down that post and Trump did. But it lingered on his campaign website for weeks, prompting aThree of Trump’s attorneys objected to the fine, insisting that the comment was referring to Cohen, and they reiterated Trump's claim that the judge’s law clerk was unfairly biased.
Habba tried to suggest that Cohen had angled unsuccessfully for a job in Trump’s White House — Cohen insisted he never sought one — and asked whether he had “significant animosity" toward Trump.“You have made a career out of publicly attacking President Trump, haven’t you?” Habba asked.for tax evasion, making false statements on a bank loan application, lying to Congress and making illegal contributions to Trump's campaign.
That remark came weeks after a Trump social media post about Engoron's law clerk, who sits beside the judge, prompted Engoron to issue the narrow gag order and tell Trump to take down the post. That order bars all participants in the case from commenting about any members of the judge's staff.on Friday after learning that the post had lingered on Trump's campaign website for weeks, though it had been removed from his Truth Social platform.
When the trial broke for lunch, the judge held a closed-door meeting that included Trump and his lawyers. When Trump emerged, he declined to disclose what was discussed, but told reporters that he had not violated the gag order, saying his earlier comment was not directed at Engoron's clerk. Trump ignored questions about whom he was targeting.
Habba returned to those themes Wednesday, underscoring that Cohen had admitted in open court to lying under oath in a federal courthouse next door.