Trump's New York judge defends $10,000 fine for violation of 'unequivocal gag order'

Judge Arthur Engoron published an order defending a $10,000 sanction against Donald Trump after the former president violated the gag order barring public comments about his court staff.

Before trial testimony in Trump's civil fraud case began Thursday morning, Trump attorney Chris Kise asked Engoron to reconsider his fine against Trump from the day before. Engoron said he would review the video of Trump's comments to reporters that prompted the fine.

When Engoron returned after lunch, he told the defense counsel that the fine stood, adding there was a "clear transition" between Trump's comments referring to Engoron's clerk and a subsequent comment about Michael Cohen, Engoron said.

Trump's legal team has said it plans to appeal the latest sanction against Trump. It has already appealed two other sets of sanctions against its client in the case so far.

The latest sanctions against Trump stemmed from his comments in the hallway of the Manhattan Supreme Court during a break in the trial Wednesday, while Cohen, his former attorney-turned-foe, was on the stand.

“This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him — perhaps even much more partisan than he is,” Trump said. The judge found that Trump was not referring to Cohen in his comment and issued an order Thursday that further explained his reasoning.