Donald Trump and Judge Engoron have been facing each other since 2 October 2023. However, even before the trial started, Engoron was placed on Trump’s naughty list when, on 26 September, he found him guilty of fraud.
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In the trial that is determining the penalties for committing fraud, the two men have often clashed. Already on 3 October, Trump took to his social media, Truth Social, and shared an old pic of Engoron’s court clerk. That resulted in Trump receiving a limited gag order. Over a month after this incident, Trump proves he hasn’t learnt his lesson.
Donald Trump shares a picture on Truth Social… again
This is a story that has been going around for a few days but, in the early hours of 10 November Independent did report that the sharing of pictures may indeed have happened.
Though the post in question has been deleted by Trump, it is reported that he shared a link to an article from The Gateway Pundit, a website described as ‘an American far-right fake news website’. This ‘publication’ is ‘known for publishing falsehoods, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories’.
In the article shared by Donald Trump, there were two pictures. According to the Independent‘one of Mr Engoron in the gym’ and the second ‘showing the nude torso of a man’. The Independent does specify that ‘the validity of the photos’ can’t be verified but the torso picture was shared in an alumni newsletter edited by Judge Engoron.
This is now the second time that Donald Trump has shared pictures of court members on Truth Social in order to feed his rhetoric that this trial is nothing but a ‘witch hunt’ led by an ‘unhinged’ man.
Donald Trump deleted the post but…
Trump, or his team, deleted the post sharing the article perhaps in an attempt to avoid further consequences. However, on Trump’s Truth Social account you can still find posts criticising Judge Engoron.
In a post from 9 November, Trump writes that Judge Engoron is a ‘puppet’. He alleges that the Judge only sides with the prosecution. He also brings up his belief that Judge Engoron ‘valued Mar-a-Lago at $18,000,000 in order to make (him) look guilty of fraud’. However Engoron has already shut down the argument that he, himself, estimated the property but instead relied on a real estate expert.
So far, we do not know what, if any, consequences Donald Trump will face for sharing the article but we can expect another fine for violating his limited gag order. He has previously been fined up to $15,000.
Read more:
⋙ Donald Trump could be in violation of his limited gag order because of a silly oversight
⋙ This is why Donald Trump keeps getting fined
Sources:
Independent: Trump spreads alleged shirtless photos of fraud trial judge
New York Post: Real estate insiders bewildered by judge’s $18M valuation of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago: ‘Would list at $300M’
New York Post: Judge at Trump civil fraud trial implores media to stop saying he valued Mar-a-Lago at $18M
AP News: Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks and insurers while building real estate empire
