Trump’s New York AG case isn’t supposed to be a criminal case, but it may result in Trump getting thrown in jail anyway. The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s bank fraud trial threatened to throw the former president in jail—and hit him with punishing fines—for “blatantly” violating a gag order by refusing to delete a website post attacking court staff. Justice Arthur F. Engoron, striking a serious tone, began Friday at trial by laying out the high stakes and demanding that Trump’s lawyers explain themselves. “In the current overheated climate, incendiary comments can and in some cases already has, led to serious physical harm and worse. I will now allow the defendants to explain why this blatant violation of the gag order would not result in serious sanctions, including financial sanctions and/or possibly imprisoning him,” Engoron said. The case that Engoron is presiding over—Trump’s New York bank fraud trial—is a civil matter, meaning jail time wasn’t ever supposed to be in the cards, only stiff fines and a threat to ruin his real estate empire. But now, Trump appears to be facing a very real threat of spending time in jail if his antics continue. Defense lawyer Christopher Kise immediately apologized for Trump’s behavior, blaming the 2024 Republican presidential candidate’s bloated “campaign machinery” for simply forgetting to remove a webpage that mirrored the Truth Social post Trump had already deleted. “There was no intention to evade or circumvent or ignore the order. I assure you that. I just know that this is a very large machine and this is one of the reasons, frankly, I don’t have social media,” Kise said, trying to deflect with some light humor. “But that’s been taken down. And we don’t have any other… there were no subsequent postings,” Kise added. The judge didn’t immediately accept that excuse. “I will take that under advisement, but… Donald Trump is still responsible for the large machine,” Engoron reminded him.
via daily beast: Judge Threatens ‘Imprisoning’ Trump for ‘Blatantly’ Violating Gag Order
siehe auch: Donald Trump fined $5,000 for violating gag order in New York fraud trial and warned twice about imprisonment. Former President Donald Trump was fined $5,000 by a New York judge on Friday for violating a gag order not to speak about any members of the court staff – and was warned twice about possible imprisonment. “Donald Trump has received ample warning from this Court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order. He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it,” Judge Arthur Engoron said in his order Friday. “Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is not longer appropriate; this Court is way behind the ‘warning’ stage.” Michael Cohen to testify at Trump fraud trial Tuesday with the former president expected in court On the second day of the trial, October 3, Engoron issued a partial gag order on all parties not to speak about any members of the court staff after Trump posted on Truth Social attacking Engoron’s clerk. The post claimed she was a “girlfriend” to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, showing a picture of the two of them together. The post was removed from Truth Social right after the gag order was issued, but it was not erased from Trump’s campaign website, DonaldJTrump.com. In court, Engoron admonished the former president’s attorneys for a “blatant violation” of the gag order and suggested that violations could result in “imprisonment.”