2023-11-04 05:16:02
NEW YORK (AP) — The judge handling Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial on Friday barred lawyers in the case from commenting on “confidential communications” between him and his staff, after the former president’s lawyers renewed the accusations. that an employee is poisoning the process.
Threatening “serious sanctions” for any violations, Judge Arthur Engoron expanded a previous gag order that prohibited parties to the trial from speaking publicly about court staff. The previous order did not name the parties’ attorneys, but Engoron had suggested Thursday that he might expand it.
The matter drew attention on a day when Eric Trump, one of the former president’s sons and a senior executive in the family business, concluded his testimony. He said he relied completely on accountants and lawyers to ensure the accuracy of the financial documents that are key to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.
The state lawsuit accuses Trump and his company of deceiving banks and insurers by exaggerating his wealth in his annual financial statements. Trump and other defendants, including his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., deny the allegations.
The former president and current 2024 Republican frontrunner is due to testify Monday in the case, which threatens the real estate empire that launched him into the public spotlight and, eventually, politics.
Like the previous gag order, the new one was sparked by criticism of the judge’s top law clerk, Allison Greenfield. Unexpectedly, she has become a lightning rod during the trial.
“The First Amendment right of defendants and their attorneys to comment on my staff is far outweighed by the need to protect them from threats and physical harm,” Engoron wrote. He said his office received “hundreds of harassing and threatening phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters and packages” during the trial.
In response, a spokesperson for Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, called the case “an attempt to silence the left’s main political opponent.”
“At this point there should be no doubt that politics is permeating our courts,” spokeswoman Erica Knight wrote in a statement. She warned of “a dangerous precedent that diminishes the integrity of the judicial system.”
Hours earlier, Trump’s lawyer, Christopher Kise, had summarized complaints the defense team has raised for more than a week about the judge’s assistant’s notes during testimony.
The content of the notes has not been revealed. But Trump’s lawyers say the messages are more frequent when the defense is cross-examining witnesses, and lawyers suggest the notes are tilting the process against his case.
“Indeed, I often think that I am arguing against two adversaries, not one,” lawyer Kise told the judge on Friday. “I’m debating with the government, and then I’m debating with someone who is providing information about an issue on a regular and immediate basis.”
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Alanna Durkin Richer contributed from Boston.
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