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re: TRUMP Assails Judge & Clerk AGAIN in N.Y. Civil Fraud Trial
TRUMP Fined $10,000 For Violating Gag Order After He Implied The Judges' Clerk is Partisan in New York Civil Trial
PLUS Judge Fines TRUMP $5,000 After Threatening Prison For Gag Order Violation in Civil FRAUD Trial For Failing to Remove From His Campaign Website Derogatory Post About The Judges' Clerk.
TRUMP Hauled to Witness Stand in Unexpected Twist During New York Fraud Trial - Judge Engoron Appeared Quite Angry
BBC 26 OCT 2023
TRUMP Receives Warning From Angry Judge Over Courtroom Behaviour During Fraud Trial
A judge warned TRUMP and others at his New York civil fraud trial to keep their voices down Wednesday after the former president threw up his hands in frustration and spoke loudly to his lawyers while a witness was testifying against him.
In an unexpected twist, former President Trump took the witness stand Wednesday in his New York civil trial to defend himself — not against any of the fraud charges he faces in the case but to respond to the judges’ assertion that he had violated a gag order in place.
The surprise, yet brief testimony took place after an afternoon break — before which the star of the day was his ex-fixer Michael Cohen. Cohen’s testimony itself also took an explosive turn during later cross-examination, when he appeared to contradict his own testimony about inflating Trump’s assets.
But it ended up being TRUMPs’ remarks earlier in the day that took center stage.
When TRUMP took the stand, Judge Arthur Engoron asked him about a comment he made to reporters regarding a “very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps even more partisan than he is.”
The trial judge suggested that the person TRUMP was referring to was his principal law clerk, who is seated just to the right of the judge, which TRUMP denied. The gag order earlier imposed barred TRUMP and other parties in the case from speaking about the judge’s staff.
TRUMP nodded, then responded, “Yes.”
“To whom were you referring?” Engoron asked.
“You and Cohen,” TRUMP replied.
“Are you sure that you didn’t mean the person on the other side, my principal law clerk?” Engoron asked.
“Yes, I’m sure,” TRUMP said.
The former president, when prompted, added that he believes the judge’s clerk is “very biased against us” and explained that he took down the previous Truth Social post that sparked the gag order.
The post, made on Trumps’ Truth Social account, falsely derided the clerk as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) “girlfriend” and included personally identifying information about her. A Schumer spokesperson called the post “ridiculous, absurd, and false” in a statement to The Hill.
Engoron ordered Trump to take down the post at the time. While it was removed from Truth Social, it remained on Trumps’ campaign website for an additional 17 days. When that was made known to Engoron, the judge imposed a $5,000 fine on Trump for violating the order, warning that another violation could result in serious punishment, including steeper financial penalties, contempt or even jail time.
On the witness stand, Trump said he believed “one of the political groups, or PACs” left the post up, echoing comments his attorney, Chris Kise, made when the post’s presence on his campaign website was discovered.
“I didn’t know they were gonna do that,” Trump said.
Through his short testimony, Trump maintained a glum face and looked intently at the judge. When he trailed back to his seat, he kept his eyes on the floor.
Once Trump was seated, Engoron issued his order fining Trump $10,000 — which he called “on the liberal side.”
“As the trier of fact, I find that the witness is not credible,” Engoron said.
Kise objected to the order, suggesting the judge “presupposed some ill motive” on Trumps’ behalf.
Kise and Trumps’ other attorneys also claimed that the closeness of Engorons’ clerk to him has essentially made her a “second judge” in the case. The attorneys previously raised issues with Engoron and his clerks’ whispered sidebars, which sometimes include eye-rolling or sighs of exasperation.
Engoron rejected their objections and their assertions about his clerks’ role in his decision-making.
“Imake the final decisions,” angry Engoron said.
After the fine was imposed, Cohen retook the stand to continue his cross-examination by Clifford Robert, an attorney for Trump’s sons.
Cohens’ apparent contradictions began to catch up with him when confronted with his testimony and previously glowing words about his ex-client being used against him.
Robert presented Cohen with a transcript from his 2019 testimony about Trump’s business practices — the same testimony that New York Attorney General Letitia James has said inspired her case against Trump. At that time, Cohen had said that Trump did not direct him to inflate his net worth — which directly contradicted testimony he gave earlier this week.
“Mr. Trump never directed you to inflate the numbers in his personal statement. Yes or no?” Robert asked Cohen after a heated back and forth, where Cohen avoided answering the question.
“Yes,” Cohen said.
Trump threw his hands in the air and looked around the room, as did another of his attorneys, Alina Habba.
Robert asked for an immediate directed verdict after asserting that the governments’ “key witness” testified he was not directed by Trump to inflate the numbers. Without skipping a beat, Engoron denied the order.
TRUMP scoffed, stood abruptly and stormed out of the courtroom in a huff. His Secret Service detail followed, leaving the gallery in a stunned silence.
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