Donald Trump, called to testify at his civil fraud trial in New York today, was subsequently fined $10,000 for a further breach of a court order limiting what he can say publicly about the case and the court. Judge Arthur Engoron said that Trump was “not credible” as a witness after he claimed on the stand that his attacks on the judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, were not aimed at her.
Greenfield has usually been sitting next to the judge in the courtroom. On Tuesday, Trump was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: “This judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him – perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”Trump insisted on the stand that the “very partisan” person he had referred to was Michael Cohen, his former fixer-turned-foe, who has been testifying against him in court this week. When Engoron asked if he was sure, the former president replied: “Yes, I’m sure.”He continued to attack Greenfield, however. “I think she’s very biased against us,” Trump said. “I think that we’ve made that very clear.”
Posting attacks on a random court officer is an excellent illustration of how contemptible Trump is—and there’s no question that he was attacking her, because he posted a photo of her when he did it. Here he’s finally in a position where he can’t do that sort of thing with impunity, even if the punishment is pocket change to him. Outside the courtroom, Trump called Engoron corrupt and said he was under the control of prosecutor Letitia James and Joe Biden.
I wonder if Trump has the genuine courage to get himself imprisoned over this. It would be great for his popularity among those with whom he is already popular, but I just don’t know if the man could hack it even for a few hours.
