Donald Trump this Wednesday tasted a small sample of the judicial experience that awaits him in the coming months due to the various criminal cases that weigh on him. And she didn't like the experience due to his angry reaction.
The former president left the court in lower Manhattan furious where the civil trial against him and his family business is being held for alleged fraud by deceiving banks with the overvaluation of their assets and obtaining better loan conditions. He attended as a member of the public, but Judge Arthur Engoron, who presides over the oral hearing, called him to the bench and swore him in after accusing him of breaking the current silence order for making a critical comment in the hallways that he interpreted as an attack on the judicial secretary. . It was a brief appearance that ended with a $10,000 fine.
The partial silence order was imposed on him last month, after making some insulting comments on his social network against official Allison Greenfield. The judge prohibited him from attacking his team's personnel. He already imposed a first sanction of $5,000 on Trump last week for a rather technical issue. Although he deleted the insulting post from his platform that motivated the order, he kept it on his website for days.
This time the matter focused on a statement to journalists, in one of the morning breaks, in a demonstration of the difficulty of imposing a preventive order on a former president and candidate who, when seen by a camera, is overwhelmed by insulting rhetoric dedicated to his enemies. The judge called him to testify after learning that, outside the courtroom, Trump had said that Engoron was "very partisan" (an expression allowed), but added that "the person sitting next to him is much more partisan than him." ”.
From the stand, dressed in his navy blue suit and abbreviating his usual monologues, Trump responded that in his comment he was not referring to Greenfield, but to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and one of the witnesses who was in full testimony, shedding light to the mechanism used to commit the fraud. Trump, who while she was his employee praised Cohen, then addressed him with adjectives such as rat, liar, traitor or scoundrel.
The judge asked him if he had previously referred to Greenfield as partisan. He responded “maybe” and that she thought the judicial secretary “was unfair” and that “she is very biased against me.” Engoron stressed that this heated environment could lead to real danger.
“I am very protective of my team, I don't want anyone to be killed,” the magistrate explained. Trump left the stand after three minutes and the judge imposed the monetary punishment on him, considering that the former president was not credible in his justification.
The scene was very relevant and totally unexpected for everyone, even for the chroniclers. Although Trump has behaved in an irascible manner outside the courtroom and inside, he had limited himself to making some gestures, but he had not testified in court in more than a decade.
As soon as he suddenly appeared this Wednesday, the judge fined him. Although he is expected to give a statement in this civil case later, this unexpected experience was a disconcerting preview of what awaits him since he is accused in four criminal cases in which, if convicted, he could face many years in prison.
Once the judge imposed the fine, the trial continued with Cohen's testimony. The former president's lawyers encouraged the witness to acknowledge that he had lied on some occasions in the past. This, something more than known, caused the lawyers to demand an immediate verdict. The magistrate denied the request. “There is a lot of credible evidence in this case,” he said. “This room could be filled,” the judge added.
After a while, Trump pushed his chair back and suddenly left the room. “The judge should end this trial immediately,” he bellowed at reporters. “I'm leaving,” he said, his face red with anger. His outburst seemed to catch both his lawyers and the secret service agents guarding him by surprise. There were murmurs in the room at this abrupt march.
