Former President Donald Trump was called to the witness stand on Wednesday during a civil fraud trial in New York City to answer questions related to a gag order, and a judge said he found the former president’s responses not “credible” and fined him $10,000 for violating the order.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, issued the fine after Trump made a comment to the press earlier in the day about a person “sitting alongside” Engoron, which Engoron suspected was a reference to his clerk, according to a reporter from Politico who was sitting in the courtroom.
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“This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is,” Trump had told reporters outside of the courtroom.
Trump testified to Engoron, according to Politico, that his comment was in reference to his estranged former attorney Michael Cohen, who testified against Trump on Wednesday in the case.
“As the trier of fact, I find the witness is not credible,” Engoron reportedly responded once Trump was finished speaking.
The dramatic afternoon concluded with Trump abruptly exiting the courtroom followed by his Secret Service, according to multiple reports.
The fine is the second Trump has received for violating the gag order, which Engoron issued on Oct. 3 in response to the former president targeting clerk Allison Greenfield on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump had posted a photo of Greenfield and a link to her Instagram account, baselessly referring to her as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) girlfriend.
“Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful!” Trump wrote in the now-deleted post. “This case should be dismissed immediately!!”
The first fine, which was $5,000 and issued last week, came after Engoron discovered Trump had left the same remarks about Greenfield on his campaign website despite deleting them from Truth Social.
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Engoron indicated in a court filing that he believed the fine was lenient and that harsher penalties could follow.
“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions,” Engoron wrote, noting that prison was one possible punishment.
