Donald Trump was fined $5,000 on Friday after violating a gag order by sharing a post attacking court staff and then not removing it in a timely fashion when asked to. As The Daily Beast points out, this is "the first time the former president has been materially punished by a judge for his repeated, incendiary social media posts," and, should he persist down these same lines, Justice Arthur F. Engoron could very well escalate consequences via adding jail time to the pot.
Before news of the fine was made public, Engoron ripped into Trump for his defiance, issuing a foreshadowing warning. “In the current overheated climate, incendiary comments can and in some cases already has, led to serious physical harm and worse. I will now allow the defendants to explain why this blatant violation of the gag order would not result in serious sanctions, including financial sanctions and/or possibly imprisoning him,” he said.
In the offending post, originating from a MAGA-aligned Twitter user and then shared to Truth Social and echoed in sentiment on donaldjtrump.com, Engoron's Principal Law Clerk, Allison R. Greenfield was targeted in a way that was viewed as a personal attack that could encroach on her privacy and safety, as it linked to her personal Instagram page. After being asked to take it down, Trump deleted the message from Truth Social, but it lingered on his campaign website for over two weeks. It has since been taken down completely, but only in response to an email from the court.
“This court is way beyond the warning stage,” Engoron said on Friday while handing down the fine.
