Donald Trump’s temper flared on Wednesday after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron deemed the former president “not credible” and slapped him with yet another fine for supposedly violating a gag order that prevents him from speaking out about Engoron’s staff.
To the surprise of his Secret Service detail, Trump exclaimed under his breath, “Unbelievable,” threw his arms up in the air, and stormed out of the courtroom. He told the waiting reporters, “The witness just admitted that we won the trial, and the judge should end this trial immediately.”
The judge just fined Donald Trump $10,000 for violating a gag order and Trump storms out of the court.
Secret Service agents flank Trump as he storms out. The Secret Service could be a big problem if the judge tries to jail the former president.pic.twitter.com/MG2vtuot61
— Max Murray (@MaxMurrayTweets) October 25, 2023
It began with the testimony of Michael Cohen — Trump’s unreliable “fixer”-turned-nemesis — in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ dubious $250 million fraud case against the GOP primary frontrunner.
Earlier in the day, Trump spoke to reporters during a court break and called Engoron “a very partisan judge.”
“This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him,” Trump stated. “Even much more partisan than he is.”
As BizPac Review reported, Engoron issued the gag order on Oct. 3, barring Trump from speaking about court staff after he made a “disparaging, untrue and personally-identifying” Truth Social post about law clerk Allison Greenfield.
Trump has already been fined $5,000 for violating it once, and, at the time, Engoron warned he could face jail time if he does it again.
In a surprise three-minute hearing, Trump was quizzed about the “partisan” person sitting next to the judge.
“Did you say, ‘This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside of him’?” Engoron asked Trump, according to the New York Post.
Trump stated that he did, but claimed he was referring to Cohen and his testimony.
“You sure you didn’t mean the person on the other side, my principal law clerk?” the judge asked.
“Yes,” Trump replied, “I’m sure.”
Greenfield, Trump added, was “maybe unfair.”
“I think she’s very biased against us,” he said.
“I find the witness is not credible,” Engoron declared and hit him with a $10,000 fine.
About an hour later, after Cohen admitted that Trump hadn’t explicitly “directed” him to inflate the value of his assets, leading Trump’s lawyers to call for a dismissal of the case.
Engoron denied the request, and Trump stormed out.
Cohen, with Trump out of the room, claimed from the stand that the former president “speaks like a mob boss.”
“He tells you what he wants without specifically telling you,” Cohen told the court. “We understood what he wanted.”
“Engoron has already found Trump liable for inflating the value of his wealth and canceled the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner’s New York business licenses, which could hamper Trump’s ability to operate in the Empire State,” The Post reports. “The judge said Wednesday that Trump’s bid to throw out the AG’s remaining claims was ‘absolutely denied’ — in part because Cohen is not considered a ‘key witness’ and the suit includes lots of other files and testimony as evidence.”
“This case has evidence, credible or not, all over the place,” Engoron stated. “There’s enough evidence to fill this courtroom.”
“He said, ‘I lied,’ numerous times,” Trump told reporters of Cohen’s testimony. “And then he said, as per the best television show you’ll ever imagine, he said, me, ‘I did not ask him to manipulate figures.’'”
“That,” Trump said, “should be the end of the case.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
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