Lawyers for Donald Trump are accusing New York Judge Arthur Engoron of “brazen and blatant violations” of the Constitution for imposing a gag order, saying he cannot be held responsible for threats others have made to his staff.
Trump’s team says the former president cannot be held responsible for what court officials say is a “tidal wave” of attacks on Judge Engoron’s chief law clerk.
Trump went after the judge and clerk by name, calling her “girlfriend” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and linking to her Instagram account in an online post that prompted Engoron to impose a joke on comments about court staff.
“In principle, the troubling behavior of anonymous third-party actors toward the judge and chief administrator publicly presiding over a highly polarizing and high-profile trial deserves appropriate safeguards,” Trump’s team wrote in a new filing on Monday.
“It does not, however, justify the wholesale revocation of petitioners’ First Amendment rights in a proceeding with enormous stakes for petitioners, which has been jeopardized by the introduction of partisan bias to the court.”
Former President Trump’s lawyers say a New York judge’s gag order violates his constitutional rights, saying he is not responsible for the threats made against the judge’s law clerk since his reports about her
The filing calls the clerk ‘openly biased’ and says the joke serves to protect Judge Engoron from scrutiny’essential for maintaining public confidence in the judiciary and ensuring a fair trial.”
It comes days after court officials revealed in a filing that the clerk had been exposed to hundreds of threatening messages and emails.
“She has been subjected to harassing, derogatory comments and anti-Semitic tropes on a daily basis,” according to the complaint, which puts the number at 20 to 30 calls per day to her personal cell phone and up to 50 emails and social media posts. .
Trump cannot be held responsible for threats or intimidation, according to his legal team, which includes Alina Habba, Clifford Robert and Chris Kise.
“However, none of the despicable nonsense reflected in these messages can be attributed to President Trump or his counsel. “Nor have President Trump or his counsel ever made any statement referencing the chief administrator’s religion, appearance, or private activities,” they wrote.
Judge Arthur Engoron has imposed a gag order on Trump that is subject to a court stay. Trump’s team wants to prevent the law from being enforced
Judge Arthur F. Engoron confers with his law clerk Allison Greenfield during the Trump Organization civil fraud trial in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Trump has appeared at the Manhattan courthouse where his fraud trial is being tried and has repeatedly called it part of a “witch hunt” against him.
He will take the stand on December 11. according to attorney Chris Kise.
Prosecutors have grilled Trump family members and executives over “financial condition statements” that New York AG Letitia James says have vastly inflated the value of corporate assets.
A Trump Organization executive testified Monday that the company no longer produces the statements that prosecutors say were used to obtain favorable loans.
The filing itself goes after the clerk, saying that prosecutors do not dispute that she “sits on the bench with Judge Engoron, has repeatedly been photographed next to Judge Engoron with his permission, rolls her eyes at comments made by petitioners’ counsel, and continually whispers. and transmits notes to Judge Engoron in response to petitioners’ counsel, while the parties are informed.”
Trump is also fighting a silence order in his January 6 DC case, with a federal appeals court expected to rule soon.
The filing with a New York appeals court calls the communications against the clerk, Allison Greenfield, “despicable and reprehensible.”
But it says they do not justify the prank and accuse the clerk of trying to put herself in the spotlight, saying she “voluntarily allowed herself to be photographed, filmed and identified by name in the national and international media.”
Trump has already been fined $15,000 for violating the silence order imposed during the fraud trial of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The “respondents’ only observable justification for the silence orders is that an unknown third party may respond to petitioners’ speech in a hostile or insulting manner.” This must be rejected. Since before the trial began and continued thereafter, certain individuals, with whom there is no indication that Applicants have any connection or exercise any control, have engaged in conduct that Applicants do not condone,” they write.
They say the threats “do not pose a clear and present danger of imminent harm as required under established precedent.”
Trump has used his legal battles — including his mugshot against the muzzles against him — to raise money for his campaign, including by selling Christmas wrapping paper with his mugshot.
Trump went after the “Trump Hating Clerk” earlier this month after the partial joke was lifted.