Judge hits Trump with another gag order in New York civil fraud case

Judge Arthur Engoron on Friday issued a gag order barring former President Donald Trump's legal team from commenting on the judge's communications with his staff.

The order goes beyond Trump himself, however, and prohibits even his attorneys "from making any public statements, in or out of court, that refer to any confidential communications, in any form, between my staff and me," Politico reported.

Trump attorney Christopher Kise on Friday informed the court that it was mulling whether to pursue a mistrial in light of reporting that Allison Greenfield, Engoron's top legal clerk, had allegedly broken judicial rules "preventing officers of the court from making excessive political donations." The report in question came from Breitbart News and made the claim that Engoron had been made aware of Greenfield's alleged violations through an emailed complaint that also went to the State Bar Association on the same day he originally imposed a gag order on Trump.

"There’s a news story out [today]…about particular political contributions made by your court staff... it raises questions of impartiality," Kise said, adding that "defense will have to give serious consideration to seeking a mistrial." An irate Engoron fumed that the reporting was untrue and stated "I’ll let everyone in the room think what they will about Breitbart."

The original Breitbart article wrests largely upon a complaint from Brock Fredin, a Wisconsin man who runs the X account @JudicialProtest. Fredin further published the entirety of his Oct. 3, 2023, complaint, which is 72-pages in length.

Greenfield has been at the center of Trump's ongoing feud with Engoron. His initial gag order barred Trump discussing members of his staff after the former president posted an image of the clerk online with label "Schumer's girlfriend." Trump has twice been fined for violating the order.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.