Trump appeals against gag order in New York civil fraud case
Donald Trump filed an appeal with the state’s highest court on Friday, challenging a gag order that prevented the former US president from discussing court employees in his New York civil fraud trial in public.
The gag order was imposed on October 3 by Justice Arthur Engoron, the presiding judge over the case, after Trump posted a picture of the judge’s law clerk posing with Democratic US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on social media and misidentified her as Schumer’s girlfriend.
According to Engoron, the court was “inundated” with hundreds of threats following the post from Trump supporters.
Trump had earlier attempted, in vain, to appeal the ruling to a lower court because it violated his right to free speech.
The mid-level court, known as the Appellate Division, on Thursday, said that the gag order did not have a major impact and kept the order in place, Reuters reported.
“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 order read.
Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing Friday that they were appealing that decision to the Albany-based Court of Appeals, which decides questions of law in the state.
Chris Kise, a lawyer for Trump, said in a statement the decision “denies President Trump the only path available to expedited relief and places his fundamental Constitutional rights in a procedural purgatory.”
Testimony concluded earlier this week in the trial over a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general seeking to fine Trump at least $250 million and sharply curtail his ability to do business in New York — home to several of his iconic properties — for lying about his net worth to dupe lenders.
Engoron has already ruled that Trump’s financial statements were fraudulent, largely limiting the trial to damages. Engoron is expected to issue a verdict in writing after closing arguments on January 11.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the case a “scam.”