Trump Fined $5,000 for Breaking Gag Order by Leaving Abusive Post Online

The judge presiding over the civil fraud trial of Donald J. Trump fined the former president $5,000 on Friday for violating the terms of a gag order imposed this month.

The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, had barred Mr. Trump from attacking his court staff after the former president posted a picture on social media of Justice Engoron’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, with Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader. Mr. Trump labeled Ms. Greenfield “Schumer’s girlfriend” and said she was “running this case against me.”

A spokeswoman for Mr. Schumer this month called the social media post “ridiculous, absurd, and false,” adding that the senator did not know Ms. Greenfield.

Mr. Trump’s post was removed from his social media platform, Truth Social, on Oct. 3, the day Justice Engoron imposed the gag order. But a copy of the post remained visible on his campaign website — though it appears to have escaped the attention of Justice Engoron until this week.

The post was finally removed from the campaign website around 10 p.m. on Thursday. A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Christopher M. Kise, said in court on Friday that the failure to remove the post sooner was “inadvertent.” He apologized on behalf of Mr. Trump.

Justice Engoron noted that he had already emphasized “quite clearly that personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances.”

The post, he added, “in fact had been on that website for the past 17 days” and was removed only after an inquiry from the court.

Mr. Trump, who has frequently attacked judges, prosecutors and witnesses in the civil and criminal cases against him, is subject to limitations on his speech not only in the Manhattan fraud case, but a federal case in which he is accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The judges overseeing the cases must strike a balance between respecting the First Amendment rights of a man seeking the White House again and keeping their courts orderly and dignified.

They also must consider what would be an effective punishment — and deterrent — for a man who estimates his net worth in the billions.

If he repeatedly violates the orders, Mr. Trump could be jailed, though that appears highly unlikely at this stage.

In his earlier order, Justice Engoron had said that personal attacks on his staff were “unacceptable” and that he would “not tolerate them under any circumstances.”

He forbade any posts, emails or public remarks about his staff members, adding that serious punishments would follow were he disobeyed.

The gag orders levied by both Justice Engoron and Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, the federal judge in Washington overseeing the election case, leave Mr. Trump wide ambit for comment.

Judge Chutkan’s written order prevents him from making public comments targeting her staff, the special counsel Jack Smith and his employees, and “any reasonably foreseeable witnesses.”

But Mr. Trump remains free to criticize his political opponents, the judges themselves and an American justice system he has described as rigged against him.

Mr. Trump himself was absent from the proceedings on Friday, but he attended the trial earlier in the week, using the camera-lined hallway outside the courtroom to issue periodic statements on his legal cases and political matters. In person, he did not come close to violating Justice Engoron’s order.