Judge Demands Trump Lawyer Explain Why He Should Not ‘Imprison Him’ Over Attack on Staffer After Gag Order

Judge Arthur Engoron. asked Trump attorneys to explain why he shouldn’t sanction former President Donald Trump — or even “imprison him” — over an attack on his staff that remained online long after a gag order was imposed.

Trump has been grabbing the spotlight all week by showing up to his trial in the fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and presided over by Judge Engoron. But on Friday, with Trump blowing off court for a golf tournament, there were fireworks aplenty in his absence.

At issue was Judge Engoron’s gag order prohibiting Trump from attacking the court’s staff — which was prompted by another Trump Truth Social post in which he attacked the judge’s principal law clerk.

In court on Friday, Judge Engoron told Trump’s lawyers he had learned that a post attacking his staffer remained on Trump’s campaign website long after the gag order was imposed — and asked attorney Chris Kise to explain why Trump shouldn’t be punished or imprisoned. NBC News reported on the exchange:

“I ordered him to remove the post immediately and he said he did take it down,” Engoron said.

He continued, “Despite this order, last night I learned the offending post was never removed from a website. This is a blatant violation of the gag order. I made it clear [that] failure to comply will result in serious sanctions.”

Engoron said the post, however, remained on Trump’s 2024 campaign website for 17 days and was removed late Thursday night after the court emailed him. The judge imposed the limited gag order in early October.

“Incendiary untruths can and have led to serious physical harm. I will now allow the defendant to explain why this should not end up with serious sanctions or I could possibly imprison him,” Engoron said.

In response, Trump’s defense attorney, Chris Kise said, “Based on my understanding this was truly inadvertent.”

“The Truth Social post was taken down when the court asked,” Kise said. “Truth Social was taken down and Trump never made any more comments about court staff, but it appears no one took it down on the campaign website. It is unfortunate and I apologize on behalf of my client.”

The judge said he’d take Kise’s response “under advisement.”