JUDGE IMPOSES PARTIAL GAG ORDER ON ORG. TRUMP. PARTIES BLOCKING THE TRIAL AGAINST VERBAL ATTACKS ON COURT STAFF
The court will reconvene Wednesday morning after New York Judge Arthur Engoron imposed a partial gag order preventing all parties from engaging in verbal attacks in court after the former president criticized a member of the judge’s workplace on social media.
A courtroom comic strip shows former President Donald Trump in a civil court in New York City, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. (Christine Cornell)
The gag order applies to both Trump’s team and James’ team. The gag order only applies to verbal attacks after an “accused” posted a “derogatory, false, personally identifiable message on social media about a member of me. “
Engoron added Tuesday afternoon that “personal attacks on members of my judiciary are unacceptable, inappropriate” and warned that they would not be tolerated.
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Without naming the former president, Engoron is referring to a now-deleted post by Trump on his Truth Social account related to Engoron’s attorney, Allison Greenfield.
L – Former President Donald Trump R – Judge Arthur Engoron of New York (Fox News)
Tuesday’s proceedings were also marked by continued testimony from Donald Bender of accounting firm Mazars USA LLP. Bender’s testimony Monday focused on monetary records dating back to 2011, which were time-barred.
The Manhattan Appellate Division ruled this summer that Attorney General James can no longer sue for alleged transactions that occurred before July 13, 2014, or Feb. 6, 2016, according to the defendant.
Trump’s defense objected to the statute of limitations for each and every document Bender questioned about, but Engoron argued that she didn’t want to, instead saying a “continuing objection” was enough. However, Trump’s defense expressed fear about the exceptions and said it planned to continue to oppose them.
Bender, who spent several years preparing Trump’s tax returns, said he interacts with the Trump Organization when it prepares financial statements or balance sheets.
Attorney General Letitia James arrives at the start of former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in the New York State Supreme Court. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Bender said he had taken no steps to make sure the data was accurate. I would only raise a factor if it highlighted something obvious.
Some of Bender’s testimony on Tuesday focused on monetary documents from 2017 to 2019 and claimed that he had learned that Mazars had been provided with valuation documents from some years.
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Bender said he believed the documents had been detected before Mazars prepared the compilation.
Bender went on to testify that if Mazars had known about the missing valuations, he would not have published the money position report.
Former U. S. President Donald Trump appears in the courtroom for the start of his civil fraud trial at the New York State Supreme Court on Oct. 2, 2023, in New York City. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images)
James, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit opposing Trump last year, alleging that he and his company misled banks and others about losing their assets. James claimed that Donald Jr. , Ivanka and Eric, as well as their affiliates and companies, committed “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” in their monetary statements.
The appellate ruling issued this ruled out Ivanka Trump as a defendant.
Trump harshly criticized James for filing the lawsuit; for the trial a jury; and Engoron, calling him “corrupt. “
“The attorney general filed this complaint under a customer coverage law that denies the right to a jury,” a Trump spokesperson said. “It has never been imaginable to decide on a jury trial. It is unfortunate that a jury cannot understand how “the merits of this case are absurd and conclude that no crime was ever committed. “
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Engoron claimed last week that Trump and the Trump Organization committed fraud in building their real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others, overvaluing their assets and exaggerating their net worth in documents used to close deals and secure financing.
Engeron’s move comes after James sued Trump, his children and the Trump Organization, alleging the former president “inflated his net worth by billions of dollars” and said his children helped him do so.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Brooke Singman is a political reporter for Fox News Digital. You can reach her on Brooke. Singman@Fox. com or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.