Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the massive civil fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump in New York, fined the former president $5,000 on Friday for violating a previous gag order.
Trump’s campaign website continued “to display a social media post attacking the judge’s law clerk in violation of a gag order imposed earlier this month,” wrote Erica Orden of Politico.
Judge Engoron also sent the brutal message to Trump that he’s willing to jail the former president for future violations of the gag order.
“In the current overheated climate, incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already have, led to serious physical harm, and worse,” Engoron wrote in the two-page order.
“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include, but are not limited to, steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of course, and possibly imprisoning him,” Engoron further explained.
Trump is facing a $250 million fraud lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
James alleges that the Trump organization, under the direction of Trump and his adult sons, defrauded banks and insurance companies on assets like their multiple golf properties while building their real estate empire.
Trump, like all Americans, is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
[Politico]
