Trump targets wife of New York judge overseeing civil fraud trial
The wife of the New York judge overseeing former President Trump’s ongoing civil fraud trial is the latest target of Trump’s rage online.
Trump took aim at Judge Arthur Engoron’s wife, Dawn Engoron, in a series of posts Tuesday afternoon, purporting that an account on X — formerly Twitter — that made several anti-Trump posts belongs to her.
The posts by “Dawn Marie,” which were first unearthed by conservative activist Laura Loomer, say Trump is “headed to the big house,” referring to prison, and remark on his ongoing trial. Two posts show what appears to be AI illustrations of the former president in an orange jumpsuit, and another depicts him as the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz.”
“Judge Engoron’s Trump Hating wife, together with his very disturbed and angry law clerk, have taken over control of the New York State Witch Hunt Trial aimed at me, my family, and the Republican Party,” Trump wrote Wednesday in a Truth Social post.
In a statement to The Hill, Dawn Engoron denied association with the account.
“The Twitter account with the handel [sic] @dm_sminxs does not belong to me. I do not have a Twitter account. I have never posted any anti Trump messages,” she wrote in an email.
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The Hill could not independently verify that the X account making anti-Trump posts belonged to the judge’s wife. The account appeared to be deactivated at the time of publication.
Engoron and his principal law clerk have been frequent targets of the former president throughout his fraud trial.
The judge found Trump, the Trump Organization and several executives — including his adult sons — liable for fraud before the trial even began, ruling that New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) had proved the crux of her case that claims the Trumps falsely inflated and deflated the value of their business’s assets to receive lower taxes and better insurance coverage.
That ruling, plus Engoron’s interactive role in the bench trial, has placed him directly in Trump’s line of fire both in court and on social media.
When Trump testified earlier this month, he took shots at Engoron numerous times, calling him “Trump hating” and questioning his impartiality.
“Can you control your client?” Engoron asked Trump’s counsel at the time. “This is not a political rally.”
Trump’s attacks against the judge’s clerk resulted in a limited gag order issued against the former president and his attorneys barring them from speaking about the judge’s staff. Trump previously testified that he thinks the clerk is “very biased against us.” The order is temporarily paused while it is being considered by an appeals court.
The purported bias of the trial judge and his principal law clerk against Trump was the basis for a mistrial motion earlier this month, asserting the pair have “tainted” the case. Trump’s legal team argued that the appearance of bias “threatens both Defendants’ rights and the integrity of the judiciary as an institution.”
Engoron denied the motion earlier this month, describing it as “utterly without merit.”
—Updated at 12:22 p.m.
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