[guest post by Dana]

This morning :

Donald Trump was fined $10,000 by a New York judge for again violating a gag order barring the former president from making statements about a law clerk involved in the state’s $250 million civil fraud trial.

The fine issued Wednesday by Justice Arthur Engoron comes after Trump referred to the person sitting beside the judge as “partisan.” The Oct. 3 gag order had barred Trump from publicly discussing his law clerk after he posted her photograph on social media and spread a false rumor about her.

If you recall, Justice Engoron fined Trump $5,000 after learning that he had not taken down a post disparaging the judge’s law clerk.

Details:

On Wednesday, during a break in the trial over a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James over Trump’s business practices, Trump told reporters, “this judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”

Engoron, surmising that Trump was referring to his clerk, called the comments a “blatant” violation of the gag order. The judge imposed the fine after Trump briefly took the witness stand to take questions.

After a short conversation with Trump’s attorneys about the ruling, Justice Engoron cautioned:

“I’ve reconsidered, the ruling stands. Don’t do it again or it’ll be worse. “

–Dana