The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial has had it up to here with the amount of baseless and misogynistic attacks on his main law clerk. After a very contentious back and forth on Thursday afternoon between Judge Engoron and Chris Kise, the Judge made the wise decision to expand the gag order to extent to Trump's attorneys as well.
In a written order made public late Friday afternoon, Judge Engoron explicitly prohibited Trump’s attorneys from making any further comments about communications between the judge and his staff. They are prohibited from making comments inside or outside of the courtroom, so no whiny media scrums in the hallways or on the steps of the courthouse.
The order states:
“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."
If violated, the judge said there would be “serious sanctions.” For Trump that is a fine. For regular old private citizens, I predict a visit to the local jail would be more likely.
Trump’s legal team has consistently raised objections in open court, both on and off the record, regarding the Judge and his clerk communicating during witness testimony. On Thursday afternoon, Trump attorney Chris Kise actually accused the Judge and his clerk of “co-judging”, noting that she was passing him notes of some sort.
The Judge did not take that accusation very well, telling Kise “she’s a civil servant, she’s doing what I ask her to do..." adding that the notes are “confidential communications from my law clerk,” He was visibly angry, pounding his fist on the bench.
How long will it take until the lawyers push the Judge? Clearly they are acting this foolish at the insistence of their client. Kise does not have a reputation for being the kind of lawyer who would intentionally agitate a Judge this way. Habba, she is a hack. But Kise knows better.
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