Donald Trump Speaks Out After Gag Order Lifted

Donald Trump launched a series of blistering attacks on New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, calling for him to be prosecuted for "creating a fraud," after the ban on him criticizing court officials in his New York civil fraud trial was lifted on November 16.

A state intermediate appeals court, headed by Justice David Friedman, granted a stay of the order, which had been imposed by Engoron, until at least November 27, noting the "constitutional and statutory rights at issue," following an appeal from Trump's legal team.

The former president had already been fined $15,000 by Engoron for breaking the order twice, including in a social media post in which he baselessly suggested Allison Greenfield, the court's law clerk, was in a relationship with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

On Tuesday, Trump hit out at Engoron and Greenfield in a post on his Truth Social website, in which he branded the judge "out of control" and a "psycho." The 2024 Republican frontrunner added that Engoron was a "Trump Hating Judge," described Greenfield as "seething with ANGER," and branded the whole case "ELECTION INTERFERENCE!"

Earlier in the day, Trump posted a video to Truth Social calling for Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case, to be prosecuted, claiming his assets had actually been undervalued.

He said: "The fraud is by the judge and the AG not by me because they put in numbers that they knew were way to low. They valued my assets at a tiny fraction of what they should be. As an example Mar-a-Lago they valued at $18 million...it could be 50 or 100 times that much. The judge created a fraud and the AG created a fraud. They're the ones that should be prosecuted."

Trump also shared a National Pulse story on Monday, accusing Greenfield of having attended an event hosted by the Grand Street Democrats, a Democratic Party supporting club formed in 2017, in the fall of 2022.

Newsweek has reached out to Judge Engoron and Greenfield for comment via an email sent to the New York state unified courts system.

In the $250 million New York fraud case, Trump, along with his adult sons and the Trump Organization, are accused of fraudulently inflating the value of his properties in a bid to receive more favorable bank loans and tax deals. In September, Engoron concluded that Trump and the other defendants had committed fraud by deliberately overvaluing their assets, but he is yet to rule on six other accusations including falsifying business records, insurance fraud and conspiracy claims.

Trump has strongly denied any wrongdoing, arguing his properties were instead undervalued, and on Friday had a mistrial bid turned down. As the case is civil there is no prospect of Trump, or any of his associates, facing jail time if found guilty.

The former president is also facing four separate criminal trials over claims he orchestrated the payment of hush money to an adult film actor, mishandled classified documents and broke the law attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results both nationally and in the state of Georgia specifically. Trump has pled not guilty to all counts and has insisted the charges against him are politically motivated.