Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) declared a victory following the temporary lifting of a gag order by a New York appeals court, which had previously prohibited former President Trump and his attorneys from discussing the trial judge’s staff in the context of his New York civil fraud case.
“I am pleased to see that after my ethics complaint to the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct against Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron, an appellate court has lifted the unconstitutional gag order against President Trump,” Stefanik said in a statement.
“If Democrats can do this to a billionaire, former President, and leading presidential candidate, just imagine what they can do to the rest of us. That’s why I filed my ethics complaint against Judge Engoron, and I will continue to fight for all New Yorkers.” she continued.
The court order is in response to an urgent lawsuit lodged by Trump’s legal team on Wednesday.
In the lawsuit, the attorneys asserted that the confidentiality orders significantly undermined Engoron’s capacity to act as a “impartial finder of fact” while supervising Trump’s case.
An interim stay of Engoron’s prohibition orders and the sanctions imposed on him due to his breach of them was requested by Trump’s team.
The directives were issued as a result of the former president’s cyber assault on the principal law scribe of the judge.
Trump has expressed his views on the clerk in a number of online comments, including one that explicitly identifies her.
In addition to fining Trump $15,000 for multiple infractions, Engoron called the former president to the witness stand in an unanticipated effort to clarify a remark he made.
The appeals judge voiced concern in his ruling on Thursday regarding the restriction of Trump’s free speech by the gag orders.
As a result, he is now able to freely remark on Engoron’s staff during the appeals process.
A judicial ethics complaint was lodged against Engoron by Stefanik, an ardent supporter of the former president, last week.
In the complaint, Engoron was accused of exhibiting “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance” toward the former president, and Stefanik demanded his resignation.
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