Donald Trump raged against the judge presiding over his civil fraud trial days after the judge issued a gag order warning the former president about his social media posts.
Trump blasted New York Judge Arthur Engoron as a “Trump Hating Judge” while complaining about the $250 million case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump, the Trump Organization and his two eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric. Throughout the trial, which began Monday, Trump has taken issue with the trial being a bench trial and not a jury trial, although Engoron informed him this was because “nobody” on Trump’s legal team requested a jury.
“I DON’T EVEN GET A JURY – Therefore, a Radical Left Judge, who came up through Democrat Club System, will decide,” Trump wrote on Truth Social early Thursday morning. “It is not possible that he can be fair. Every decision he makes has been a horror show.”
Trump’s criticisms come less than two days after Engoron issued a gag order on Tuesday, barring the former president from making comments about court staff. The order resulted after Trump attacked one of Engoron’s law clerks in a social media post that included her photo earlier in the day.
“This morning one of the defendants posted to his social media account a disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post about a member of my staff,” Engoron told the courtroom. “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them in any circumstances.”
The judge said he had already cautioned Trump “off the record” on Monday but added that his warnings were ignored.
Trump complained about Engoron again on Thursday, saying the judge was unqualified to oversee the case because he did not serve as part of New York’s unique commercial division that is focused on business and commercial litigation. James has accused Trump of fraud, falsification of business records, issuing false financial statements and conspiracy. Last week, Engoron ruled that Trump and his company had committed fraud, deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth when making deals and securing loans.
“Our CORRUPT, RACIST, & INCOMPETENT A.G., Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James, considered the WORST ATTORNEY GENERAL IN THE UNITED STATES, refused to bring this case under the respected ‘Commercial Division,’ where judges understand Valuations and Real Estate. This Trump Hating Judge doesn’t. The Appellant Division must intercede, NOW!” the former president wrote.
Engoron’s ruling agreed with prosecutors that Trump overvalued his properties by more than $400 million, writing that “a discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud.”
In his decision, Engoron cited an evaluation from a Palm Beach, Florida, assessor that put Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate at between $18 million and $27 million on the low end. That estimate has sparked outrage from the Trump family, who argue that it’s worth “100 times that amount.” Trump previously testified to prosecutors that the Florida property was worth $1.5 billion, but his new claims put the value of Mar-a-Lago up to $1.8 billion.
Trump made the claim again on Thursday, writing, “I’m in a rat’s nest of NEW YORK DEMOCRAT CORRUPTION, a reason so many companies are leaving New York, our Racist Attorney General filed a lawsuit whose facts and VALUATIONS are wrong, like $18,000,000 for Mar-a-Lago, when it is worth, perhaps, 100 times that amount, and numerous other properties, likewise, that this case is a political SHAM that should never have been brought.”
Thursday marks day four in the civil trial. Trump has been in court the first three days, but it is unclear if he plans to appear on the fourth day as well.