After the gag ruling: Trump has to pay fines – the next violation threatens imprisonment

A New York judge fined former US President Donald Trump $5,000 for defaming a court employee. The one in Judge Arthur Engoron is in charge of the fraud trial related to Trump’s assets The sentence was imposed on him Friday for the violation, according to the court document -An order not to speak publicly about court employees To express. He also threatened imprisonment for future violations.

The associate judge is said to be Schumer’s “friend.”

At the beginning of October, the former president posted a photo of one of the judge’s employees on his online platform, “Truth Social,” and described her as a “friend” of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Engoron then banned all those involved in the operation from speaking publicly On his staff: “Personal attacks on members of the court staff are unacceptable.”

The post was quickly deleted on Truth Social. But it remained on the Trump campaign website. The judge now stated that he “learned last night that the offending post had never been removed from DonaldJTrump.com and had actually been on that site for the past 17 days.” The post was eventually deleted only after an email was sent from the court.

The judge appears to be flirting with a prison sentence

At a hearing, the judge asked Trump’s defense team why “harsh penalties” were not imposed on the former president — including “fines” and possibly even prison time, according to media reports confirmed by a court spokesman. Attorney Chris Case responded that it was an oversight. “I apologize on behalf of my client.”

Engoron has now settled on a fine of around €4,700. At the same time, he warned that in the event of possible future violations, he would impose “much harsher penalties” for contempt of court. Imprisonment is also possible.

Trump has reportedly garnished the assets for years

The civil trial against Trump began in New York in early October. New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses the former president and businessman of inflating the assets of his real estate empire over the years in order to obtain better terms for loans and insurance. Judge Engoron ruled before the trial began that Trump overstated his assets and thus committed “fraud.”

The civil case is therefore particularly concerned with the question of how severe the punishment should be against Trump and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. James demanded, among other things, a fine of $250 million. Trump is not threatened with prison.

Trump, who repeatedly attends the trial in person, rejected all charges as politically motivated. The Republican, who wants to run again in the 2024 presidential election, also repeatedly attacked Judge Engoron and Attorney General James.

In addition to civil proceedings over fraud allegations in New York, the former president has been indicted in four criminal cases. Both indictments relate to right-wing populist attempts to do this Canceling the results of the 2020 presidential elections And thus stay in power.

(AFP/PO)View comments