A court transcript released Friday reveals the errant remark made by a Donald Trump lawyer that angered the judge presiding over the former president's fraud trial.
Eric Trump's testimony was briefly upended when defense attorney Chris Kise commented about Judge Arthur Engoron's principal law clerk, which drew a rebuke about the former president and his legal team's "misogynist" obsession with the courtroom staffer, reported NBC News.
“I’ll wait again to get the note that you have from Ms. [name of clerk]," Kise said after listing a series of objections. "You may have a question for me. Maybe it is about dinner.”
The comment, which most in the courtroom did not hear, set off a "heated back and forth," according to one observer, and Trump co-counsel Alina Habba assured the judge their objections were not rooted in misogyny but were concerned with the appearance of partisan bias due to what the former president alleges are the clerk's political ties to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
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Trump lodged those allegations in a Truth Social post showing a photo of the clerk standing next to Schumer at a public event, and Engoron imposed a gag order on him and has fined him twice for a total of $15,000 for commenting on her — on Thursday he threatened to expand that order to include the former president's legal team.
"If there's any further reference to anyone on my staff," Engoron said, "I will consider expanding the gag order to include the attorneys, to include yourself."
