Social media posts Trump claimed were made by judge's wife were not made by her, court says
Social media posts that former President Donald Trump claimed were made by the wife of the judge in his New York fraud trial were not made by her, a court spokesperson said.
"Justice Engoron's wife has not sent social media posts regarding the former president. They are not hers. She does not have an X, formerly Twitter, account," Al Baker, spokesperson for the New York Office of Court Administration, told CBS News.
Trump shared images of the alleged posts Wednesday and Thursday on his social media platform Truth Social. The posts showed images created with artificial intelligence of Trump in an orange prison jumpsuit mopping floors, reading books and with a shaved head. In another Wednesday evening post on Truth Social, Trump accused Judge Arthur Engoron's wife of being "Trump Hating" and said she and Engoron's law clerk, Allison Greenfield, had "taken over control" of the trial against him.
The images that Trump shared to his more than 6.5 million followers were originally shared by Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and far-right personality, who posted them on her social media accounts and claimed they belonged to Mrs. Engoron's private X account.
The X account that the images referenced has been deleted, a CBS News review found. The Internet Archive, a non-profit digital archival tool, shows that the account was created in 2021.
Trump's social media posts related to the ongoing civil trial in New York have been under scrutiny since the trial began in early October. The former president's speech was restricted on Oct. 3 when Engoron issued a gag order preventing Trump from commenting on the court's staff after Trump made a post disparaging Greenfield. The gag order was expanded to include attorneys in the case after Trump continued to comment on Engoron's clerk. Trump has since been fined $15,000 by Engoron for violations of the order.
The gag order was briefly lifted after Trump's legal team appealed the ruling, but was put back in place Thursday by a state appeals court.
Trump's posts about Engoron's wife and family were made while the gag order was lifted.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump, his two adult sons and their company have already been found liable for fraud in the case, in which they're accused of profiting by at least $250 million through a scheme to misrepresent the former president's assets to banks and insurers. The trial is proceeding on claims related to falsification of business records, conspiracy and insurance fraud.
Trump and other defendants have blamed their accountants for any misrepresentations in his financial statements. They have accused New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, of pursuing the case out of political bias against the Republican presidential candidate.
Trump is expected to be called to the stand in his own defense on Dec. 11, his side's final witness after more than two months of trial.
