Citing 'Hundreds of Threats,' Judge Gags Trump's Lawyers

Staff's safety is more important than a defendant's right to free speech, Engoron rules
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 3, 2023 4:46 PM CDT
Updated Nov 3, 2023 5:05 PM CDT
Citing 'Hundreds of Threats,' Judge Gags Trump's Lawyers
Judge Arthur Engoron talks with his principal law clerk Allison Greenfield during the fraud trial for Donald Trump at New York Supreme Court on Thursday.   (Michael M Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

After two defense lawyers repeatedly attacked a law clerk for the judge presiding over Donald Trump's civil fraud trial, the hammer came down. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron decreed Friday that the gag order Trump is under now also applies to Christopher Kise and Alina Habba. Allison Greenfield has been falsely accused of bias by the two lawyers and of "improperly influencing the ongoing bench trial," the ruling says. Engoron wrote that his office has faced hundreds of threats since the trial began, a problem he connected to Trump and his lawyers, CNBC reports. "The threat of, and actual, violence resulting from heated political rhetoric is well-documented," he said.

The harassment has come in the form of "phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters, and packages," the judge wrote. The order bars participants in the trial from making public comments about court staff members, a prohibition Trump has violated, prompting fines. Greenfield is a Democrat, and Trump has said she's biased against him. On Friday, Kise resumed that argument, saying the communications between the judge and clerk—they sit next to each other in court and speak and exchange notes—created a "perception of bias." The day before, Engoron had suggested that Kise's slams suggested misogyny, per the New York Times. Violations of the order risk "serious sanctions," the judge said Friday.

A lawyer for the attorney general's office said the attacks on Greenfield appeared to be designed to disrupt the prosecution's case as Trump's children take the stand. The former president has argued that the gag order violates his right to free speech, especially as a candidate—an issue Engoron addressed in his ruling. "The First Amendment right of defendants and their attorneys to comment on my staff is far and away outweighed by the need to protect them from threats and physical harm," Engoron wrote. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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