New York Appeals Court Lifts Gag Order on Trump in Fraud Trial

A New York appeals court has temporarily suspended the gag order imposed on former President Donald Trump that silenced him from commenting on court staff during his business fraud trial.

“The judge from the First Department of New York’s Appellate Division granted the request by Trump’s defense attorneys for an interim stay of the gag orders, citing the ‘constitutional and statutory rights at issue’ in a brief order,” reported NBC News.

“The appeals court’s ruling pauses the gag orders that had been imposed on Trump and the attorneys defending him in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ high-stakes fraud case in Manhattan Supreme Court,” it added.

As Breitbart News reported in October, New York County Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron “gagged former President Donald Trump’s legal counsel from discussing his ‘confidential communications’ with staff, including note-passing from clerk Allison Greenfield.”

“According to a copy of the order published by the Messenger, Engoron ordered, ‘All counsel are prohibited from making any public statements, in or out of court, that refer to any confidential communications, in any form, between my staff and me,’” said the report.

The judge further pledged to bring “serious sanctions” against the former president’s legal team if they were to violate the order.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, recently brought a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump alleging that his company and top executives, including his two sons, had been conspiring to exaggerate his wealth in financial statements that were given to banks and insurers to secure loans and make deals.

Donald Trump Jr., who served as executive vice president of the Trump Organization and headed a trust of his father’s assets while he served in the White House, testified that he never worked on financial statements and never misled insurers and banks. Per the Associated Press:

At least one of the annual financial statements bore language saying the trustees “are responsible” for the document. But Donald Trump Jr. said he didn’t recall ever working on any of the financial statements and had “no specific knowledge” of them.

Trump Jr. said he signed off on statements as a trustee, but had left the work to outside accountants and the company’s then-finance chief, Allen Weisselberg.

“I had an obligation to listen to the people with intimate knowledge of those things,” he said.

“I wasn’t working on the document, but if they tell me that it’s accurate, based on their accounting assessment of all of the materials, these people had an incredible intimate knowledge, and I relied on it,” he added.

Arthur Engoron, the Democrat who will decide the case with no jury due to New York State law, had previously ruled before the trial that the former president’s financial statements were fraudulent and ordered that a “court-appointed receiver seize control of some Trump companies, potentially stripping the former president and his family of such marquee properties as Trump Tower, though an appeals court has halted enforcement for now,” according to the AP.

As Matt Boyle wrote for Breitbart News in early November, “The top clerk for New York Justice Arthur Engoron, Allison Greenfield, appears to have violated judicial rules preventing officers of the court from making excessive political donations.”

“What’s more, it appears Engoron was advised of Greenfield’s violations in a 72-page complaint addressed to his court via email that was also filed with the New York State Bar Association the same day he decided to issue a gag order against former President Donald Trump in his case currently playing out in Engoron’s Manhattan courtroom,” he wrote.

In a separate statement, Stefanik referred to Engoron as a “Far Left Judge” working on behalf of the Democrats.

“It’s unconstitutional and illegal to put a GAG order on President Trump and his legal team. The Far Left Judge’s clerk is a major Democrat donor and operative who has apparently donated more than the yearly limit for a New York Judge’s staff member,” she said.

“It is illegal and un-American for the Leftist Judge in N.Y. to order that President Trump and his legal team can’t raise issues about the Judge’s biased law clerk — especially when it is very obvious that she is playing an integral role in this case,” she continued.

Stefanik concluded that Democrats are establishing a “dangerous pattern” to muzzle and silence defendants.

“This is a dangerous pattern by Democrats across the country to try to muzzle any defendant — let alone the leading Presidential candidate who is leading in all the polls against corrupt Joe Biden. Republicans must join together to fight back against the unprecedented and illegal weaponization of Government against President Trump. I will do everything in my power as the Republican House Conference Chair to stop this madness,” she said.

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.