Donald Trump has launched a number of attacks against the wife of the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial in New York amid a debate on whether the former president needs a gag order reimposed against him.
In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump lashed out at Judge Arthur Engoron’s “Trump hating wife” Dawn Engoron, as well as the judge’s court staff whom he has previously been fined for attacking in public statements during the case in New York where he is accused of filing fraudulent financial statements inflating the value of his properties.
The former president repeated allegations that Dawn Engoron was behind an account on X, formerly Twitter, which frequently attacked Trump online. In a previous statement, Dawn Engoron denied that she was behind the @dm_sminxs account. “I do not have a Twitter account. This is not me. I have not posted any anti Trump messages,” she told Newsweek.
Trump also attacked Alison Greenfield, Arthur Engoron’s longtime law clerk, in his social media posts. The judge has fined Trump on two occasions after he attacked Greenfield on social media, as well as calling her a “very partisan” individual to reporters outside the New York courtroom in violation of the gag order imposed on the former president to stop publicly talking about court staff. A New York appeals court paused the gag order to consider arguments from Trump’s legal team that it violates his First Amendment rights as he mounts another White House bid.
Getty Images/abin Botsford-Pool
“Judge Engoron’s Trump Hating wife, together with his very disturbed and angry law clerk, have taken over control of the New York State Witch Hunt Trial aimed at me, my family, and the Republican Party,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
“This is such an embarrassment to all within the New York State Judicial System, as murder and violent crime rage like never before!”
Trump shared a number of screenshots of the @dm_sminxs account while repeating the allegation that the posts were made by Engoron’s wife.
The posts include a mocked-up image of Trump in a prison cell, and another of him in an orange jumpsuit mopping, with the caption: “He’ll NEVER be in the WHITE HOUSE again. He’s headed for the BIG HOUSE.” Trump has pleaded not guilty to 91 criminal charges across four criminal investigations and is due to stand trial in all of them.
“Yet another from Judge Engoron’s Wife. This Trial, which should never have been allowed to be brought, has turned out to be an embarrassment to the New York State Judicial System,” Trump wrote while sharing the post of him sitting in a jail cell.
“At what point do High Court Officials step in, and end this Witch Hunt? Judge Engoron is making fools of the New York State Judicial System!”
Dawn Engoron has been contacted for comment via email.
In court filings on Monday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the gag order in New York should not be imposed, accusing Engoron of a “brazen and unmitigated” violation of the Constitution when he imposed it.
“The Gag Orders shield Justice Engoron and his openly partisan clerk from the precise scrutiny essential to maintaining public confidence in the judiciary and ensuring a fair trial,” the filings said.
A previous court filing from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office argued the gag order should be reinstated against Trump.
An affidavit from Charles Hollon, who works in the Public Safety Department’s Judicial Threats Assessment Unit, said that there are 275 single-space pages’ worth of transcribed threatening messages and voicemails that have been left for Engoron and his court staff since early October.
Hollon said that when the gag order was paused, law clerk Greenfield went on to receive around 20 to 30 calls per day to her personal cell phone and 30 to 50 messages on social media and to her email.
“Ms. Greenfield also informed me that, since the interim stay was issued lifting the gag orders on November 16, 2023, approximately half of the harassing and disparaging messages have been antisemitic,” Hollon wrote.
“The implementation of the limited gag orders resulted in a decrease in the number of threats, harassment, and disparaging messages that the judge and his staff received,” Hollon wrote. “However, when Mr. Trump violated the gag orders, the number of threatening, harassing and disparaging messages increased.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.