Donald Trump was ordered to shut up and stop launching personal attacks against a judge’s court staff on Tuesday afternoon, a rude interruption of his bank fraud trial’s second day in New York.
At 3 p.m., after an unexpectedly long lunch break, Justice Arthur F. Engoron revealed that he had previously warned the former president’s lawyer to not engage in the aggressive and libelous attacks against the justice system he’s done across the country—only to discover today that Trump had crossed the line by aiming his hatred at the judge’s law clerk.
Sometime Tuesday morning, Trump took to his Truth Social media network to share a MAGA-aligned Twitter user’s post asking, “Why is Judge Engoron's Principal Law Clerk, Allison R. Greenfield, palling around with Chuck Schumer?” Trump also linked to her personal Instagram page, drawing the attention of his huge fan base against her.
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Greenfield has earned the politician's ire by consistently shutting down his legal team's delay tactics and spurious arguments in court. In his short-lived post, Trump called her "Schumer's girlfriend"—Greenfield is not dating the senator—and complained that she "is running this case against me. How disgraceful!"
The typically warm judge turned ice cold when he delivered his stern warning.
“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances,” Engoron said.
Trump quickly deleted the post midday Tuesday. The judge explained that it only happened after he had personally ordered Trump to do so, a rare flex of power against the politician who has yet to face similar repercussions from other judges overseeing nearly half a dozen criminal cases across the eastern seaboard.
The judge then disclosed a conversation he had “off the record” with one of Trump’s defense lawyers in which he specifically warned about this.
“Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any members of my staff,” Engoron declared, warning that “failure to abide by this will result in serious sanctions.”
