- Trump insults a law clerk during his New York civil fraud trial after the judge lifted his silence order.
- The order has been put on hold while prosecutors investigate whether the order violates Trump’s right to free speech.
- Trump posted on Truth Social that the official “hates Trump.”
Shortly after lifting the silence order in a civil fraud trial, former President Donald Trump immediately began attacking the law officer handling the case.
On Thursday, an appeals judge temporarily lifted the silence order, and a full appellate panel will decide whether the order violates Trump’s right to free speech, as his lawyers argued.
Judge Arthur Engoron, the federal judge presiding over the Manhattan trial, first issued the order in October to prevent Trump from insulting any members of his team – especially a law official whom Trump had criticized online – over concerns about their safety.
But Trump wasted no time in getting right back to it.
Trump posted on Tru Social that “Engoron’s ridiculous and unconstitutional gag order, preventing me from defending myself against him and his politically biased and out-of-control Trump-hating official, who is sinking him and his Court to a new level of LOW, is a disgrace.”
State court system attorney Lisa Evans said Trump’s previous attacks on law clerk Engoron led to her receiving “hundreds of anti-Semitic comments” daily from supporters of the former president, Insider previously reported.
Engoron fined Trump twice for violating the silence order, once for $10,000 and once for $5,000.
