Court upholds Trump gag order in financial fraud case

A New York appeals court declined to strike down a gag order imposed on former President Trump that bars him from attacking court staff for the duration of his financial fraud case.

The gag order, put in place in October, bars Trump and his attorneys from making remarks about Judge Arthur Engoron’s court staff following the former president chastising one of his clerks by falsely calling her the “girlfriend” of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

The New York Supreme Court, a trial court that is not the state’s highest court, upheld Engoron’s gag order, finding it did not unlawfully restrict Trump’s speech.

“Here, the gravity of potential harm is small, given that the Gag Order is narrow, limited to prohibiting solely statements regarding the court’s staff,” the court wrote in its opinion.

Engoron said his staff has been “inundated” with threats following Trump’s comments. He later expanded the order to include Trump’s attorneys, after they questioned his passing of notes to communicate with his staff.

“My law clerks are public servants who are performing their job in the manner in which I request,” he wrote in the order. “This includes providing legal authority and opinions, as well as responding to questions I pose to them. Plainly, defenders are not entitled to the confidential communications among me and my court staff.”