New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron and Trump defense lawyer Christopher Kise
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
A defense lawyer’s late afternoon snipe about a law clerk sparked drama at the Trump fraud trial.
The blowup came when Trump lawyer Christopher Kise snarked “ask your law clerk first,” to the judge.
The judge called Kise “misogynist” and threatened to expand Trump’s gag order – to cover lawyers.
A defense lawyer took a pointed verbal swipe at the law clerk in the Trump civil fraud trial Thursday, prompting anger from the judge, who accused the lawyer of misogyny and threatened to gag him and his colleagues.
The temper-flaring, accusations, and judicial threats were sparked in the Manhattan courtroom by a wise-crack comment from Trump lawyer Christopher Kise, who was raising a routine objection during late-afternoon testimony by Eric Trump.
Maybe you should ask you law clerk, first, Kise said, his voice sarcastic as he addressed the judge in the non-jury trial, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.
Engoron has twice fined Donald Trump for similarly attacking the law clerk, Allison Greenfield, an attorney who sits three feet to the right of the judge, confers with him frequently via notes, and has become a stalking horse for the defense.
Hearing her referenced with derision yet again, the typically affable judge hit the figurative roof, as Eric Trump watched, blank-faced, from the witness stand.
“All joking aside, do not refer to my staff again,” the judge said angrily.
“The person sitting alongside of me is my principal law clerk,” he said, adding that she is there to confer with him on legal issues that arise at trial.
“Sometimes I think there may be a bit of misogyny” the judge told Kise. “If you keep referring to my principal law clerk, I will consider expanding the gag order to include you and your attorneys.”
The current gag order bars Trump and his co-defendants from any spoken or online statements attacking the judge’s law staff.
Kise pushed back.
“Frequently I feel like I am fighting two adversaries,” meaning the state attorney general’s office and Greenfield, he complained to the judge. “It’s a fair comment as a lawyer.”
“I’m sitting here and I have to respond to Mr. Amer and their arguments,” Kise said, referring to one of the assistant attorney generals, Andrew Amer.
“But there is someone else sending you information on a different basis,” Kise said of Greenfield, who he claimed he’d seen pass 30 notes to the judge on the previous day. “All I’m trying to say is that gives off the appearance of impropriety.”
Kise also insisted “I’m not a misogynist,” citing as proof, “I have a 17-year-old daughter.”
A second Trump attorney, Alina Habba, leapt to Kise’s defense.
“I have issues with the person who is also sitting on the bench” she said. “I do feel, like Mr. Kise, that your position is often what you’re given in notes.”
The judge did not expand the gag order. But before calling an end to testimony for the day, and instructing Eric Trump to return Friday morning, he had the final word – or rather, the final long paragraph.
“Mr. Kise and the rest of your team,” the judge said, addressing the defense table. “I have an absolute right, an absolute unfettered right, to get advice from my principal law clerk,” as with anyone on his three-member staff, he said.
“There is no First Amendment value that I can see to referring to her, particularly when making things up – and that’s not you,” he told Kise.
“That’s somebody else,” he said, likely referring to Trump, who’s been in hot water from the judge twice for a Truth Social post that falsely said the clerk is the girlfriend of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Kise said he’s weighed the lawyer’s first amendment rights against the safety of his staff, and his “points are not well taken.”
“I’m pounding the table,” he said, without actually pounding the table. “I have an absolute right to have communications with my clerk.”
It’s the fifth week of testimony in the trial, at which New York State Attorney General Letitia James – citing persistent fraud – is seeking to ban Donald Trump, the two eldest Trump sons, and the Trump Organization from doing business in the state.
