New York judge issues limited gag order after Trump makes disparaging post about court clerk

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge quickly imposed a limited gag order in Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial Tuesday after the former president disparaged a key court staffer.

Interrupting a long day of testimony, Judge Arthur Engoron issued the order, which applies to all parties in the case and pertains to verbal attacks on court staff. It came after Trump recirculated a critical social media post about Engoron’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield.

The post included a photo of Greenfield with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., posing for a picture at a public event. Trump, the Republican front-runner for president in 2024, has repeatedly cast the lawsuit and trial as a political attack by New York’s Democratic attorney general, Letitia James. Trump wrote that it was “disgraceful” that Greenfield was working with the judge in the courtroom.

Aside from that sideshow, with Trump attending the trial for a second day, James’ attorney questioned an accountant in an effort to build the state’s case that Trump and others at his company had full control over the preparation of misleading and downright false financial statements at the heart of the lawsuit against them.