Trump fined $10,000 for comment outside court in civil fraud trial

A judge on Wednesday fined former President Donald Trump $10,000 for a comment he made outside the courtroom during his civil fraud trial in New York.

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Judge Arthur Engoron imposed the fine on Trump for violating a gag order barring him from making statements about court staff members involved in the trial, Bloomberg reported.

It came after the judge called Trump to the stand to explain a comment he made outside the courtroom in which he called Engoron, who is a Democrat, “a very partisan judge,” and said he had “a person who’s very partisan sitting along side of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is,” according to The Associated Press.

The person next to Engoron was his law clerk, though on the stand, Trump claimed he was talking about his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who was testifying for a second day on Wednesday, The New York Times reported. Engoron said he didn’t find Trump to be credible before leveling the fine on him, according to the newspaper.

Engoron ordered Trump not to make comments about his law clerk on Oct. 3, after the former president made a disparaging post about her on social media, according to Reuters. Last week, he fined Trump $5,000 for failing to take the post offline.

Trump, his adult sons and the Trump Organization were sued last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accused them of lying to lenders and insurers about the value of their properties for years to get more favorable terms.

The former president has denied any wrongdoing, framing the case as a politically motivated motivated “witch hunt.”

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