NYC law clerk branded ‘disgraceful’ by Trump wins huge promotion
A law clerk once branded “disgraceful” by Donald Trump won her election on Tuesday, making her a judge in New York City.
Allison Greenfield, 38, is the chief law clerk to Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw Trump’s civil fraud trial in Manhattan last year.
Greenfield, who was often discredited during the trial with Trump’s Truth Social posts, ran for one of six seats on Manhattan’s civil court.
The primary was canceled after being approved by a local Democratic committee in February, clearing the way for an unopposed run for office. Greenfield will take office for a ten-year term.
This comes as Trump defeated Kamala Harris to become president again, overcoming his many legal troubles — including the case Greenfield helped administer that saddled him with a massive $454 million judgment for defrauding lenders in his real estate deals.
Allison Greenfield, who just won her election as a civil judge, sits next to Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron during Donald Trump’s fraud trial
Trump, pictured on January 11 as the trial was wrapping up, regularly attacked Engoron’s staff during the proceedings. Greenfield was sometimes a target
Trump had many clashes with Greenfield during the trial, which started in October 2023 and ended in January 2024.
The first of many came on the second day of the trial, when he went to Truth Social to call her “disgraceful” for working so closely with the judge in the courtroom.
In that October 2023 post, he suggested she was politically biased against him by baselessly calling her Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer her girlfriend.
He also linked to her personal Instagram account.
Although Trump deleted the post, that did not stop Engoron from imposing a silence order on Trump to prevent him from talking publicly about the case or the judge’s staff.
Engoron twice fined Trump $15,000 for violating the order.
In early November, the judge expanded the order — which initially only covered parties in the case — to lawyers, after Trump’s lawyers complained that Greenfield had passed notes to Engoron.
In a scathing post that still remains on Truth Social, Trump wished all his enemies a Happy Thanksgiving.
A screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post that prompted the judge to impose a gag order on him
Trump’s Truth Social post ridiculed his long list of enemies, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Engoron, Greenfield and Joe Biden
First on his list was New York’s “racist and incompetent” Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the civil fraud case against him.
He called Engoron a “radical left Trump-hating judge” and a “psycho.”
He then moved on to Greenfield and described her role in the process as follows: “to sit next to him on the ‘couch’ and tell him what to do.”
Trump’s lawyers accused Engoron of allowing Greenfield to be a “de facto co-judge” while also questioning her political leanings.
Allegations about her alleged anti-Trump bias reached a fever pitch when Breitbart News published a story alleging that Greenfield had violated court rules by donating to Democratic causes.
Greenfield made two donations during the 2022 election cycle, a year before the trial began. She contributed $15 and $25 to two candidates for New York City Council.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, pictured right, labeled Engoron’s final ruling as the culmination of a politically motivated “witch hunt”
On this basis, Trump’s lawyers demanded a mistrial, something Engoron flatly rejected.
At the end of the trial in February, Engoron ordered Trump to pay hundreds of millions in fines, including interest.
Alina Habba, one of Trump’s lawyers, described the devastating ruling as the culmination of a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
“This verdict is a manifest injustice – plain and simple,” Alina denounced the decision in a statement to DailyMail.com. “It’s the culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt designed to ‘take down Donald Trump’ before Letitia James ever entered the attorney general’s office.”
Greenfield’s election to the civil court, which handles small claims and low-stakes lawsuits, could later position her to lead the state Supreme Court, New York’s top court.
Greenfield studied economics and politics at New York University before earning her law degree from Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan in 2010.