A new court filing has revealed “hundreds of threatening, harassing, disparaging and antisemitic” threats made to Judge Arthur Engoron, who is currently presiding over the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump in New York and trying to get the gag order he imposed against Trump reinstated.
Trump already violated Engoron’s gag order twice, costing him $15,000. An appeals court paused the order last week, citing Trump’s “constitutional and statutory rights.” But the threats have caused serious security concerns for Engoron and his staff, especially his principal law clerk Allison Greenfield.
One voicemail, according to an affidavit filed by court officer Captain Charles Hollon, stated: “Trust me. Trust me when I say this. I will come for you. I don’t care. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me either.” Another said: “Resign now, you dirty, treasonous piece of trash snake. We are going to get you and anyone of you dirty, backstabbing, lying, cheating American. You are nothing but a bunch of communists. We are coming to remove you permanently.”
Is there some sort of strategy the court is adhering to that would explain why Trump hasn’t been charged with (or is it “held in”?) contempt?
Yes, it’s called special treatment for the rich and powerful.
Is it working?
Sure is.
Always fucking does.
The court is bending over backwards to avoid looking biased. The only way you can appeal a trial is on the basis of a mistrial. Basically, you need to argue that the trial was unfair in some way. And the court really doesn’t want that, because if he’s able to appeal all the way up the chain to the SCOTUS, they’ll let him walk. So they’re avoiding taking any actions against him, because they don’t want to appear biased against him.
It could be the most airtight ruling and fair trial in the existence of human kind and he would still appeal, and he’d force the appeals court to hear it by having bought some of them, and then he’d appeal that to the SC, who’d let him off because he owns it.
I think everyone is missing the biggest one. Trump will lose his businesses. He can’t “win” here. So he’s trying to provoke the judge into doing something stupid so he can appeal and delay and appeal.
The judge isn’t going to be manipulated into that.
You guys can be mad about it but this is the long game and imo the right move.
I’m asking a question. I’m not mad.
Trump has already been hit with contempt once. He was fined $110,000 and it was upheld in appeal.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/14/trump-contempt-order-upheld-by-new-york-appeals-court-in-attorney-general-case.html
Judge hit him with four gag orders in two months but stops just short of contempt? It probably is just public relation jockeying. It just seems strange.
The leading theory on that is that the judges currently assigned to Trump’s legal cases are going to extremes to avoid being labeled as “biased” so that they can avoid a potential mistrial, which seems to be Trump’s goal at this point in lieu of an actual defense.
I’m not so sure that’s the case, seeing as Trump has been treated with the kid gloves the entire time and yet he is still throwing sucker punches at every opportunity he gets. They would have had every right to be heavy-handed with his treatment considering his threatening language. I think it has more to do with the fact that the case is unmistakably political by virtue of the fact that it involves a former president and the judges want to be extra careful to not incite Trump’s mob to take violent action against themselves or their court staff.