The judge in Trump’s civil fraud trial issued a gag order after Trump repeatedly attacked the court clerk.Penalties for violating the order include potential fines and jail time.However, a legal expert told Insider Trump isn’t likely to face those kinds of consequences.
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The trial judge in the New York civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a gag order against the former president after he repeatedly attacked the court clerk in social media posts.
The gag order bars Trump from posting about any members of Justice Arthur Engoron’s staff after the former president circulated a Truth Social post of Engoron’s law clerk standing next to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, calling the clerk “Schumer’s girlfriend.”
“Failure to abide by this order will result in serious consequences,” Insider previously reported Engoron said.
The gag order was issued in the $250 million civil fraud case in New York against Trump, in which Justice Engoron has already found that Trump deceived investors by falsely inflating his property values, committing years of fraud. Engoron has already handed down a “corporate death penalty” for the Trump Organization but the bench trial continues to decide the still outstanding parts of the New York attorney general’s lawsuit.
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the case.
The potential penalties for violating the gag order include fines and even prison time — but a legal expert told Insider that Trump is unlikely to face those types of consequences, even if the judge in the fraud trial finds he has broken the rules.
Trial attorney Bernard Alexander, a partner at the Los Angeles-based firm of Alexander Morrison + Fehr LLP, told Insider that gag orders are very uncommon, often reserved for high-profile cases where the Court is making an effort to protect the right to a fair trial.
Alexander, who has been an attorney for more than 30 years and specializes in employment law and civil rights cases, said the court has several different options for how it can sanction Trump if he violates the gag order. Any decision the court makes, he said, will have to balance his right to free speech against the legal objective of achieving a fair trial.
“For one thing, the judge can prevent Trump’s legal team from presenting certain evidence. But judges prefer not to put their thumb on the scales of justice that way,” Alexander said. “Another option is for the judge to inform the jury that Trump has violated his order. The judge could instruct the jury to consider that conduct and give it the weight that the jury thinks it deserves in considering Trump’s evidence and credibility.”
Alexander added that the court could impose a fine “but that would be meaningless” given Trump’s wealth, and said that judges in civil matters generally don’t order people to go to jail, so the judge will have to be creative in implementing a sanction that would work to dissuade Trump from continuing to violate the order.
“Trump has money and he uses it to bully people. He can keep paying fines amounting to thousands of dollars – which is what would have to be imposed in a case like this – without giving it a second thought,” Alexander told Insider. “The sanction must be something effective to reign Trump in, in order for him to take it seriously.”
Though it remains unclear exactly what the consequences may be if Trump violates the gag order against him, Alexander said he was not surprised by the order being issued and said that it was the right move by the judge.
“The judge is trying to maintain the integrity of the court and proceed with as light a touch as possible to allow the case to progress without any hint that the court is being impartial. The more Trump violates the rules, the more the judge has to act to maintain integrity and control,” Alexander said.
He added: “The parties have a certain amount of latitude in being able to criticize the court, which includes the judge. But singling out a court employee in a way that might encourage Trump’s supporters to individually attack or intimidate the employee is unacceptable.”
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