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Former US President Donald Trump potentially is in violation of his gag order by leaving up his Truth Social post attacking Judge Arthur Engoron's clerk.
The judge, who is presiding over Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial in New York, laid into Trump's attorney Friday asking why he shouldn't send the former President to jail or impose serious fines.
Engoron said in court on Friday morning that Trump had posted on his social media account "an untrue and disparaging post about my clerk" and that he spoke to the former president about the matter.
"I ordered him to remove the post immediately and he said he did take it down," Engoron said.
He continued, "Despite this order, last night I learned the offending post was never removed from a website. This is a blatant violation of the gag order. I made it clear [that] failure to comply will result in serious sanctions."
The post remained on the website for at least 17 days. Only after the Court emailed Trump did the offending post come down Thursday night. Trump reportedly does not use email, it should be noted.
"Incendiary untruths can and have led to serious physical harm. I will now allow the defendant to explain why this should not end up with serious sanctions or I could possibly imprison him," Engoron said.
In response, Trump's defense attorney, Chris Kise said, "Based on my understanding this was truly inadvertent."
"The Truth Social post was taken down when the court asked," Kise said. "Truth Social was taken down and Trump never made any more comments about court staff, but it appears no one took it down on the campaign website. It is unfortunate and I apologize on behalf of my client."
Trump's original post about the clerk implied she had an inappropriate relationship with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. Schumer spokeswoman Allison Biasotti categorically denied the claim, calling it “pathetic,” “ridiculous, absurd and false." She said that Schumer does not know the clerk.
Trump being convicted and to serve prison time prior to 2016 was listed at +140 odds. The NO is still favored at -180.
In just a 48 hours period, two co-defendants in a Georgia RICO case entered guilty pleas and could likely testify against the former President.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
