Former US President Donald Trump had to pay a $10,000 fine for breaking a rule in court during a fraud trial in New York on Wednesday. He said something bad about the judge and someone else in the courtroom during a break in the trial.
During a break on Wednesday in the case brought by New York about Trump’s business practices, Trump told reporters in a hallway, “This judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”
The judge, Arthur Engoron, said Trump’s statement was a clear violation of the rule. This rule, known as a gag order, was given by Judge Engoron on October 3. It stops Trump from saying mean things about court staff. Judge Engoron is in charge of the trial where Trump is being accused of civil fraud.
This is the second time Trump has broken the court’s rule about not saying mean things. Just last week, he had to pay $5,000 because he broke the rule by posting something unkind about the judge’s assistant on social media. In that photo, the judge’s top assistant was seen with US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is a Democrat. Trump wrongly said that she was Schumer’s “girlfriend.”
After leaving the courtroom, Trump talked to reporters and said bad things about his old lawyer and friend, Michael Cohen, calling him a person who often tells lies.
Cohen was sent to jail for three years because he admitted to doing things like cheating on taxes, breaking campaign finance rules, and lying under oath. Among other things, he was found guilty of trying to hide money that Trump gave to a former adult film star named Stephanie Clifford, who is also known as Stormy Daniels. Trump and Daniels had a secret relationship that he wanted to keep hidden while running for president in 2016. Trump’s lawyers questioned Cohen’s trustworthiness and asked him many questions during the trial, which could seriously harm Trump’s real estate business in New York.
