Judge Arthur Engoron has expanded the gag order against former President Donald Trump to include his attorneys, Chris Kise and Alina Habba, in the New York civil fraud case against him.
The new gag order prohibits Trump's lawyers from publicly commenting on Engoron's communications with his staff, citing threats spurred by prior comments.
As The Hill reports:
Judge Arthur Engoron has already prohibited Trump from making public comments about his court staff after the former president attacked one of his clerks on social media after posting a picture of her with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and falsely calling her Schumer's “girlfriend.”
Trump has since twice violated the order, racking up $15,000 in fines between the two incidents. But even amid the steep penalties for their client, Trump's attorneys this week repeatedly questioned Engoron's communication with court staff during the trial.
“As I have stated on the record, seemingly to no avail, my law clerks are public servants who are performing their job in the manner in which I request. This includes providing legal authority and opinions, as well as responding to questions I pose to them. Plainly, defenders are not entitled to the confidential communications among me and my court staff,” Engoron wrote in his ruling.
“Since the commencement of this bench trial, my chambers have been inundated with hundreds of harassing and threatening phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters and packages. 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,” he noted.
Engoron clarified that any breach of his order would lead to “serious sanctions.”
Engoron's order comes after Trump attorney Christopher Kise complained there was “co-judging” happening in the case and complained about the frequent exchange of notes between the judge and court staff.
“Yesterday we counted 30, 40 times,” Kise said.
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