Trump fraud trial: New York AG urges reinstating gag order over comments about court clerk

Donald Trump's complaints about a clerk in his New York civil fraud trial are "baseless" and "highly inappropriate," so a gag order restricting his comments about court staffers should be reinstated, according to a lawyer on state Attorney General Letitia James' staff.

Dennis Fan, the senior assistant solicitor general in James' office, argued Wednesday in an appellate court filing that the former president's repeated comments about the clerk were unwarranted and that Trump was unlikely to overturn the gag order.

Trump made "highly inappropriate, and personally identifying attacks against the court’s principal law clerk," Fan said in his affidavit. "Each of these orders properly imposed exceedingly limited restraints on speech to protect the safety of the court’s staff and preserve the orderly administration of the trial."

Trump's ability to make public comments in his cases have caused thorny legal battles as the courts navigate the unprecedented nature of having a leading presidential candidate on trial. Trump has appealed gag orders in two cases: the New York fraud trial and the pending federal election conspiracy trial. Georgia prosecutors sought to revoke the bond of one of Trump's co-defendants in the election racketeering case, Harrison Floyd, for his social media posts, but the judge refused Tuesday.

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The New York civil fraud trial judge, Arthur Engoron, has fined Trump a combined $15,000 for violating the gag order against commenting on his chief law clerk, Allison Greenfield.

Lisa Evans, deputy counsel in the Office of Court Administration representing the judge and clerk, said “threats, harassment and disparaging comments increased exponentially” after Oct. 3. That was the day Engoron issued his first gag order, after Trump posted the picture of Greenfield with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Greenfield’s personal cellphone number and email addresses have been compromised, Evans said. Greenfield receives 20 to 30 calls a day and 30 to 50 messages through social media and email with harassing and disparaging comments, Evans said.

“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.

But Trump appealed, calling the order unconstitutional and arguing the sanctions violate the court’s rules.

Judge David Friedman, who sits on the appellate division above Engoron’s court, suspended the gag order while the appeal is debated. Trump has until Monday to reply to Fan's arguments.

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The New York fraud trial resulted from James suing Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and their namesake corporation for $250 million. Engoron has already ruled they committed fraud for years in overvaluing real estate properties for more favorable loans, and he is now considering what damages to impose.

Engoron ordered the cancellation of Trump's business certificates, which could end his ability to do business in New York state. But that part of the decision is on hold while Trump appeals.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Engoron and Greenfield as partisans out to destroy his business. On Wednesday, the former president's lawyers asked the judge to declare a mistrial, citing what they called Engoron's “ample bias” and Greenfield's “co-judging.”

Trump lambasted Engoron from the witness stand in his Manhattan courtroom. "He called me a fraud, and he didn’t know anything about me,” the former president said.

Judge fines Trump for comments on social media and outside courtroom

Engoron’s initial gag order Oct. 3 was sparked when Trump reposted a social media post that falsely claimed Greenfield was a girlfriend of Schumer. Engoron later expanded the order to include Trump’s lawyers, including Christopher Kise and Alina Habba, who have questioned Greenfield’s influence on Engoron.

The judge fined Trump $5,000 on Oct. 20 for leaving the social media post visible on his campaign website for two weeks after the gag order. Engoron later fined him another $10,000 on Oct. 25 for comments outside the courtroom to reporters about Engoron and Greenfield being partisans, despite Trump claiming under oath he was referring to witness Michael Cohen rather than Greenfield.

Trump's lawyers have also "refused to stop repeating unprofessional and vexatious arguments" against the clerk, according to Fan.

After the appellate judge temporarily lifted the gag order, Trump commented on the clerk again in posts on Truth Social. For example, he posted Nov. 16 that the court’s “politically biased and out of control, Trump Hating Clerk, who is sinking him and his Court to new levels of LOW, is a disgrace,” Fan wrote.

On Nov. 18, Trump reposted an online article suggesting the clerk engaged in drug use. In another post, Fan said Trump lambasted the “crooked and highly partisan Law Clerk” and stated that she “should be sanctioned and prosecuted over this complete and very obvious MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE!!!”

Since the gag order was lifted, about half the comments to Greenfield have been antisemitic, according to Evans.

Trump’s lawyers argued in their appeal that the gag order curbed his right to free speech while campaigning for president.

“This constitutional protection is at its apogee where the speech in question is core political speech, made by the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, regarding perceived partisanship and bias at a trial where he is subject to hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and the threatened prohibition of his lawful business activities in the state,” the lawyers wrote in a legal filing.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump fraud trial: New York AG urges reinstating gag order