Donald Trump Stung by Court Filing on Thanksgiving
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Ewan Palmer News Reporter
The Department of Justice submitted a court filing on Thanksgiving arguing that a gag order against the former president must remain while pointing to documents filed as part of the $250 million civil fraud trial in New York.
On Thursday, November 23, Cecil Vandevender, an assistant special counsel for the Department of Justice, notified the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals of a document which said that a gag order needs to be reinstated against Trump during the civil proceedings in New York, where state Attorney General Letitia James has accused the former president of fraudulently inflating the value of his properties in financial statements.
The government's court filings pointed the appeals court to one section in particular, in which an employee at the New York State Unified Court System details the "hundreds of threatening and harassing voicemail messages" which had been sent to Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the civil trial, as well as the judge's law clerk Allison Greenfield. Engoron fined Trump twice in October for violating his gag order after the former president failed to remove a Truth Social post targeting Greenfield from his website more than two weeks after the judge ordered it be deleted, and then a second time after the former president described Greenfield as a "very partisan" individual to reporters outside the New York courtroom.
The appeals court in D.C. is considering limiting the scope of the gag order imposed by Judge Tanya Chutkan against Trump in the federal election case, which prohibits the former president from attacking prosecutors such as Special Counsel Jack Smith or any potential witness ahead of next year's federal trial.
Trump and his lawyers have argued that any gag order against a presidential candidate is a violation of his First Amendment rights. A judge paused the gag order in New York which Engoron imposed to stop Trump attacking court staff during the proceedings in social media posts and public statements to consider the constitutional arguments.
The D.C. appeals court previously requested that the DOJ provide evidence of "ongoing threats and harassment" surrounding Trump regarding the discussions to keep the gag order in the federal case. Vandevender then submitted the evidence cited in New York on Thanksgiving in order to bolster their arguments that the gag order imposed by Chutkan should remain in place.
Trump's legal team has been contacted for comment via email.
According to an affidavit cited by the DOJ from Charles Hollon, who works in the Public Safety Department's Judicial Threats Assessment Unit, there are 275 single space pages worth of transcribed threatening messages and voicemails which have been left for Engoron and his court staff since early October.
Several of the "threatening, harassing, disparaging and antisemitic" which were left on Engoron's chamber's voicemail were cited in the New York affidavit. One of the messages to Engoron states: "Trust me. Trust me when I say this. I will come for you. I don't care. Ain't nobody gonna stop me either."
A second transcript of the message calls Engoron a "dirty, treasonous piece of trash snake," and warns "we are coming to remove you permanently."
Hollon argued that the "deluge" of messages which threaten the safety of court staff is the type of "countervailing interest" which warrants the reintroduction of the gag order.
"The messages received by Justice Engoron and his staff every day has created an ongoing security risk for the judge, his staff and his family," Hollon said.
"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. However, when Mr. Trump violated the gag orders, the number of threatening, harassing and disparaging messages increased."
In a November 17 statement, Trump's office attacked the gag order imposed on him by Chutkan as an attempt to restrict what he can say during his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, has denied all wrongdoing as in the 2020 election interference and New York civil fraud cases, and accuses both of them of being politically motivated "witch hunts" which aim to prevent him winning the 2024 election.
"The Gag Order appoints an unelected federal judge to censor what the leading candidate for President of the United States may say to all Americans, just weeks before the Iowa caucuses," the statement said.
"No court has ever upheld a gag order on core political speech at the height of a campaign. Just yesterday, the New York Appellate Division stayed a similar gag order against President Trump's core political speech. The unconstitutional Gag Order in the DC case should be speedily reversed."
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How exactly do the comments about the judge and his staff pertain to political speech? They are not involved in the campaign. As far as that goes, Trump's "core political speech" is all about disrespect for established institutions and procedures, with the ultimate goal being the replacement of the same by the rule of whim and fancy.
Yes, to put it as nicely as humanly possible...
It remains amazing that (possibly) half of the active electorate wants to hand over the powers of the presidency to this irresponsible, vindictive prick.
I hope that it is because they are unaware that his intentions are to dismantle the constitutional democratic process in this country, but it looks more like that is what they want. Makes me wonder what they think started the government with the rules and norms that they so dislike.
He was President and he didn't do anything like that.
We all saw the degree to which he will go to get what he wants.
His Big Lie con-job should alone convince everyone that he is irresponsible and will attempt to discard the CotUS, work to disenfranchise voters, etc. if it stands in his way.
In the past, the electorate would never consider voting for such an individual. WTF has happened to the electorate?
I disagree. He wanted to build a wall and it became the symbol for resistance. He wanted legislation to help the country and it was all pinned on one bill that one spiteful Senator was able to kill. He put in place a legal travel ban that got stymied by an illicit federal judge and then had to be confirmed as legal by SCOTUS after it became impractical to use.
In the past, the electorate would never consider voting for such an individual.
In the past you never would have had Obama or Biden elected. Let us let the people decide instead of interfering in elections via voting rule changes, censorship and political prosecutions. Biden and everything he brought with him is on the ballot. Now we vote.
Then you deny what took place in front of your nose. Trump, without question, attempted to steal the 2020 election through fraud, coercion, lying and incitement. Nobody should support an individual for PotUS who has engaged in such an act.
I agree that our bar for who should be PotUS has lowered over the years.
But that is not an argument for lowering it to the ground for Trump.
That seems to be your thing.
This election is a referendum on the man who put the nation on the road to ruin. There is nothing worse than Joe Biden or as some democrats now call him "Genocide Joe."
So now you just leap into full deflection.
Do you not recognize that Trump attempted to steal the 2020 election through fraud, coercion, lying and incitement???
I don't know that. There are a lot of things I am still learning about that election.
What I do know is that Joe Biden cannot have a second term.
BTW, you do recall this:
How Democrats Attempted a 2016 Electoral College Coup (dailysignal.com)
Case in point.
Thank you for dropping by to provide our readers with an example.
After three years and all that has been disclosed publicly, you still are not clear that Trump attempted to steal the 2020 presidential election???
For example, do you think Pence is lying when he stated that Trump wanted him to unconstitutionally set aside certified votes from select states where he lost? Do you think that the recording where Trump is coercing Brad Raffensperger to find him votes is a fraud? Was speaker "Rusty" Bowers lying under oath when he stated that Trump wanted him to submit a slate of alternate electors?
Do you think the videos of Trump declaring that he won the election, that Biden is not the legitimate PotUS, etc. are all deep fakes?
Do you think the felony charges against Trump for his Big Lie actions are all without merit?
On and on ...
Deflection.
Another personal attack.
Don't you have anything else?
You must mean Trump. Putting aside all the times he admitted acting contrary to the spirit of the CotUS, his behavior since he lost the 2020 election has been reprehensible. He did indeed lie, cheat and steal in an attempt to subvert the constitutional democratic process, yet you want him back because he says that he will do even more to subvert the constitutional democratic process. That is truly in character.
Some people like the rule of law. Others seem to prefer the rule of a madman.
I am only giving credit where credit is due.
Which reminds me to ask why you considered it a personal attack to be associated with Trump?
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