Updated Oct 20, 2023, 03:44pm EDT
Topline
A New York state judge fined former President Donald Trump $5,000 for violating a gag order in his ongoing civil trial for alleged fraud — though the judge had earlier threatened jail time — marking the first consequences Trump has faced for his speech in the legal cases against him as multiple judges impose gag orders on him.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during the first day of his civil fraud trial at New York State … [+]
Key Facts
Judge Arthur Engoron levied the $5,000 fine on Trump after imposing a gag order on October 3 that barred the ex-president and other parties from publicly speaking about court staff, after Trump made a disparaging post about Engoron’s clerk.
Trump deleted the post on Truth Social on October 3, hours after it was posted and right before the gag order was imposed, but the post stayed up on Trump’s campaign website until Thursday, when it was first reported on social media.
Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise apologized after Engoron complained about the post at the start of the trial Friday, with the attorney arguing the post being left up had been an “inadvertent” mistake.
Engoron said in a written order that the “effect of the post on its subject is unmitigated” by the reasons why the post was left up on the website, and after giving Trump “ample warning” about what would happen if he violated the gag order, “issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this Court is way beyond the ‘warning’ stage.”
Though Engoron suggested at the trial Friday that the “blatant violation” of his order could result in more severe sanctions against Trump—including “possibly imprisoning him”—the judge said in his written order that he would only impose a “nominal” fine, given that attorneys’ position that it was a mistake and the fact it is a “first time violation.”
The judge suggested Trump could still face more serious consequences if he ever violates the gag order again—whether “intentional[ly] or unintentional[ly]”—which Engoron said could include “steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.
