NY appeals court restores gag order on Donald Trump in real estate fraud trial

A New York appeals panel restored the gag order Thursday in Donald Trump’s contentious civil fraud trial, rejecting the former president's argument that the restrictions violated his right to free speech.

The trial judge, Arthur Engoron, had imposed the gag order Oct. 3 to prevent the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner from commenting on his staff. Engoron has fined Trump a combined $15,000 for publicly attacking the judge’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, as a partisan Democrat with undue influence in the case.

Trump appealed and an appellate judge temporarily lifted the gag order while the case was argued.

On Thursday, a four-judge panel of the state Supreme Court's appellate division ruled that, after reviewing written arguments by state Attorney General Letitia James, Trump's attorneys, and lawyers for the state court system with “due deliberation,” the gag order would stand.

Trump attorney Christopher Kise called the ruling “a tragic day for the rule of law.” Trump is scheduled to testify again at the trial Dec. 11.

Why did judge impose the gag order?

Engoron imposed the gag order on Trump after the former president made a social media post that falsely accused Greenfield of being Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s girlfriend. Engoron fined Trump $5,000 for leaving the post up two weeks after the order. Kise said the delay in removing it was an accident.

The Manhattan judge then fined Trump $10,000 for hallway remarks he made to reporters outside the courtroom about partisans on the bench. Trump testified under oath he was referring to a witness, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, rather than Greenfield, who sits near Engoron. But the judge ruled his explanation was “not credible.”

'Hundreds' of pages of threats

James has accused Trump, his two elder sons, two company executives and several business entities with defrauding banks and insurance companies by inflating the value of the former president's assets, including his own Trump Tower apartment.

Lisa Evans, deputy counsel in New York's Office of Court Administration, representing Engoron and Greenfield, said in a filing Nov. 22 that “threats, harassment and disparaging comments increased exponentially” after the order.

“Although Mr. Trump did not directly threaten Ms. Greenfield, the comments made in his post resulted in hundreds of threatening and harassing voicemail messages that have been transcribed into over 275 single-spaced pages,” Evans said in her affidavit.

Dennis Fan, senior assistant solicitor general in James' office, argued Wednesday that the former president's repeated attacks on the clerk were unwarranted and that Trump was unlikely to ultimately succeed in overturning the gag order.

Appeal over 'Star Chamber' gag order

On Monday, Trump’s lawyers urged the appeals panel – Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, Ellen Gesmer, Saliann Scarpulla and Llinét Rosado – to keep blocking the gag order in the high-stakes trial by arguing the restrictions were too broad and that Engoron had imposed the fines "in a fit of pique."

“This Star Chamber approach is particularly indefensible when the gag orders actually shield the Court itself from public criticism for perceived bias – one of the most fundamental rights under the First Amendment,” Trump’s lawyers Kise, Alina Habba and Clifford Robert wrote in a 1,900-page filing.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NY appeals court restores gag order on Donald Trump in civil trial