Judge fines Trump $5,000 and threatens to put him behind bars if he continues to violate the publication ban

Trump is on trial in New York in a civil case related to a major fraud case worth $250 million (235 million euros) in several of his companies. The former president has already been convicted, and the current trial is still pending sentencing.

However, since the trial began in early October, Trump has continued to disparage the judge, the staffer, and other parties involved. As a result, after only a few days, he was granted a so-called “gag order” or partial gag order. However, this did not prevent Trump from hinting on his social fact site that the staffer is in the Democrats’ pocket. Trump shared a photo of the employee with Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, and described the woman as “Schumer’s friend.”

The message was removed from social media, but could then be seen on the Trump campaign website for several days until the court sent an email about it. According to Judge Arthur Engoron, the letter was “false and insulting” and he confronted Trump with it. “I ordered him to delete the post immediately and he said he did. But yesterday I learned that never happened. This is a flagrant violation of the gag order. I made it clear to him that refusing to comply would have serious consequences.”

A judge has now fined Trump $5,000 (4,700 euros) for his insults on social media. Because, according to Trump’s lawyer, the post remained on the site due to “inattention,” the judge imposed a “nominal fine” of $5,000.

Trump’s defense stated, according to NBC, that the post had been removed from social media and that Trump had stopped making comments about court employees, but no one had removed the post from the campaign website. His lawyer said: “This is unfortunate and I apologize on behalf of my client.”

Trump also received a partial gag order in other cases against him, including his ongoing claims of election fraud and his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.