Trump Escalates Attacks On Judge, NY Attorney General—Shares Post Urging They Face ‘Citizen’s Arrest’ - Forbes

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Topline

Former President Donald Trump reposted a social media comment early Tuesday that suggested the New York attorney general and the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial should be put under “citizen’s arrest,” as the ex-president and his supporters have escalated attacks on the judge and others involved with the ongoing trial.

Key Facts

Trump “ReTruthed” a post on Truth Social from an anonymous user, who said their “fantasy” was “to see Lititia [sic] James and Judge Engoron placed under citizens [sic] arrest for blatant election interference and harassment.”

The post refers to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing Trump and his company for allegedly misstating the value of assets on financial documents for personal gain, and Judge Arthur Engoron, the state judge overseeing the fraud case—which Trump has claimed is a “witch hunt” against him designed to interfere with his presidential campaign.

Trump’s repost comes days after the ex-president wrote himself on Truth Social that James “should be prosecuted” herself for committing fraud by convincing Engoron that Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate is worth less than the ex-president claims.

Trump has repeatedly accused Engoron of bias, leading his supporters to ramp up their attacks against the judge—particularly after Engoron levied a combined $15,000 in fines against the ex-president for violating a gag order on speaking about court staff, and after Trump testified at the trial and railed against the judge and James from the stand.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) submitted an ethics complaint against Engoron with the state commission on judicial misconduct, which criticizes his alleged “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance,” while right-wing activist Laura Loomer has gone after the judge by publicly claiming his wife has a secret X account filled with anti-Trump posts (Engoron’s wife has denied the account is hers).

The Trump campaign, James’ office and New York court system have not yet responded to requests for comment, though court spokesperson Al Baker previously told the New York Times in response to Stefanik’s complaint that “Judge Engoron’s actions and rulings in this matter are all part of the public record and speak for themselves,” and “it is inappropriate to comment further.”

Chief Critic

“Sometimes [Trump] says incendiary things that his followers act on, as in [that January 6] ‘will be wild,’” former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general Harry Litman, a frequent Trump critic, tweeted Tuesday about Trump reposting the citizen’s arrest comment. “This is an actual incitement to break the law and it greatly endangers the judge and AG.”

Tangent

New York’s law for citizen’s arrest allows any person to arrest another person if they’ve committed a felony, or “for any offense” when the offender has committed the crime in the presence of the person carrying out the arrest. The state Senate passed a bill to abolish the citizen’s arrest statute earlier this year, calling it a “dangerous and historically abused practice,” but the legislation has not made it through the state Assembly. Law professor Jonathan Turley, who's been critical of James in the past, wrote Tuesday in response to Trump's reposting that "there is no basis for a citizen’s arrest and such an effort to physically hold either the judge or the attorney general would most certainly constitute a criminal act.”

What To Watch For

The civil fraud trial against Trump, his business associates—including his sons—and the Trump Organization, which began in early October, is scheduled to continue through mid-December. The lawsuit alleges Trump and his associates knowingly misstated valuations on financial statements in order to obtain more favorable business deals and reflect a higher net worth for Trump, and James seeks such penalties as a $250 million fine and a ban on Trump and his children running New York businesses. Engoron has already found the defendants liable for fraud by misstating the value of their assets—the trial is moving forward on other allegations, like if the fraud was committed intentionally—and ordered Trump’s business certificates to be canceled, though an appeals court has put that on hold.

Surprising Fact

Trump and his supporters’ attacks on the judge come after Engoron has actually ruled in his legal team’s favor a few times in recent days during the ongoing trial. The judge allowed several witnesses to testify on the Trump defendants’ behalf after the attorney general’s office tried to have them struck from the trial, for instance, and allowed Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. to testify at length Monday praising the Trump Organization’s history and assets. “I find it interesting,” Engoron remarked.

Key Background

Trump has railed against prosecutors and judges as criminal and civil legal cases against him have piled up, decrying his opponents or judges he perceives as being biased against him as trying to perpetuate the “witch hunt” against him. The ex-president’s slew of attacks has sparked concerns about the effects of his speech, and experts have speculated whether gag orders would be imposed against him since his first indictment in March. Engoron became the first judge to impose a gag order on the former president, barring him from speaking about court staff after he made a disparaging post about the judge’s law clerk. Engoron then fined him after he failed to take it down from his campaign website and made vague comments to reporters about the “partisan” person sitting next to the judge. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who’s overseeing Trump’s federal case over trying to overturn the 2020 election, then followed, imposing a gag order that’s now been temporarily paused while an appeals court considers it. That order barred Trump from comments that target prosecutors, potential witnesses and court staff, with Chutkan writing the ex-president’s comments pose “grave threats” to the integrity of the court case and “pose a significant and immediate risk” that the people he goes after will “become targets for threats and harassment.” Trump has harshly opposed the gag orders against him, claiming they’re an infringement on his First Amendment rights.