'Risk of violence': Justice Engoron's lawyer destroys Trump's free speech claims

A lawyer representing New York Justice Arthur Engoron is pushing back hard on former President Donald Trump's lawsuit alleging that he has restricted the former president's free speech in the New York civil fraud trial.

Trump's claims that his rights are violated by the order, which narrowly prohibits him from making attacks on court staff, is "risible," Engoron's counsel says in the new filing.

"The only potential harm that exists here is the risk of violence against Justice Engoron's staff if this Court grants a writ of prohibition," said the filing. "Whether he seeks it or not, some of Mr. Trump’s followers are willing to engage in violence to show their support."

According to legal analyst Katie Phang, "if Trump's lawyers want to object, they can do so and appeal if they think Engoron makes a wrong decision."

"But, as long as Engoron and his law clerk are 'acting and communicating in the context of his role as a jurist,' their 'working relationship is sacrosanct,'" according to Phang's analysis of the new filing.

Some experts say that Trump filed the lawsuit against Engoron as a tactic to try to gum up the works of the underlying trial against him, which was brought by state Attorney General Letitia James. Trump has already been fined twice for violations of the gag order, which was briefly suspended amid a review by a higher court but reinstated.

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James alleges in the fraud suit that Trump and his two adult sons systematically lied about the value and square footage of the Trump Organization's properties to get more favorable loan interest and tax treatment. She is seeking hundreds of millions in fines and the dissolution of the Trump Organization within New York.

Engoron has already ruled in favor of James on the facts in summary judgment on the issue of fraud, leaving much of the remainder of the civil trial to resolve any potential damages.