NEW YORK – The judge presiding over the civil trial for corporate fraud against former President Donald Trump in New York said this Friday that his office has received “hundreds” of threats or signs of harassment during the process in the form of calls, voice messages, emails and packages.
The magistrate, Arthur Engoron, revealed this in a document published on Friday on the court platform in which he argued the reasons for extending to Trump’s lawyers a “gag order” that he already imposed on him at the beginning of the trial to prevent him from doing public comments on court personnel.
Engoron imposed that order on Trump on October 3, at the beginning of the trial, after he published a personal attack against the judge’s secretary on his social networks, and on Friday ordered that it also be applied to his two lawyers. They said the exchanges of notes between the judge and his secretary during the session were inappropriate.
In his new order, Engoron said the secretaries are officials hired specifically to help him and who work as he stipulates, including offering opinions, legal information and answering his questions, and noted that the defendants do not have the right to know his confidential communications. .
He then rejected the free speech arguments of Trump’s lawyers to refer to court personnel and said that his order is tailor-made to “protect the safety” of these people, so he will not tolerate “statements” that could contribute to tense political rhetoric and violence.
“The First Amendment right of defendants and their attorneys to comment on my staff is far outweighed by the need to protect them from threats and physical harm,” he added.
So far, the magistrate has reprimanded Trump for violating the order and has given him two fines of $5,000 and $10,000, warning him that there may be more serious consequences that include jail time.
In the trial, which will last until December, several alleged illegalities in the Trump Organization are resolved, such as documentary falsification, after the judge declared Trump, two sons and two former executives responsible for continued fraud in a summary manner, before beginning the process.
Trump himself, called by the Prosecutor’s Office, is expected to appear as a witness next Monday, after his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, also accused, have already done so. Ivanka Trump, another daughter, who is not charged, will also testify that week, the judge said.
2023-11-04 02:02:19
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