Trump loses latest appeal to lift gag order in New York fraud trial

Former President Donald Trump officially lost his appeal of a gag order in his New York fraud trial.

Courthouse News first reported Trump's appeal of Justice Arthur Engoron's gag order had been rejected.

The panel of appellate judges — Barbara Kapnick, Kelly O'Neil Levy, Peter Moulton, and Saliann Scarpulla — declined to strike down the gag order.

"Invoking this extraordinary remedy is only appropriate if there exists a substantial claim of an absence of jurisdiction or an act in excess of jurisdiction," the court said in a four-page ruling. "Here, the gravity of potential harm is small, given that the Gag Order is narrow, limited to prohibiting solely statements regarding the court's staff."

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"For these reasons, a writ of prohibition is not the proper vehicle for challenging the Gag Order and Contempt Orders," the judges added. "To the extent there may have been appealable issues with respect to any of the procedures the court implemented in imposing the financial sanctions, the proper method of review would be to move to vacate the Contempt Orders, and then to take an appeal from the denial of those motions."

The court also barred Trump from appealing the gag order to a higher court.

The gag order was imposed after the former president attacked a member of Engoron's staff on social media. He has twice violated the order and has been fined $15,000.

A lower court also declined to overturn the gag order in December.