Irked Trump trial judge blasts ex-president's lawyer for asking to criticize clerk again: 'It's a shame you've descended to this level'

Before and after brief testimony from Eric Trump, Trump's lawyers raised an issue based on a Breitbart article.

• The judge in Trump's fraud trial lashed out, again, at his lawyer.
• The judge has issued a gag order, prohibiting Trump from speaking poorly about his staff.
• Trump's lawyer, on Friday, asked permission to criticize her.

A baffled, irked judge overseeing Donald Trump's family company's fraud trial in Manhattan criticized one of his lawyers again for his repeated attacks on his law clerk.

"It's a shame you've descended to this level," New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron told Trump's lawyer Christopher Kise.

On Friday morning, Trump lawyer Kise asked Engoron, who's presiding over the civil trial, if he could make objections in the court record about Allison Greenfield, the clerk who sits next to the judge on the bench and often passes notes to him.

A day earlier, Engoron accused Kise of misogyny over a snide remark he made about Greenfield and threatened to extend a gag order to Trump's lawyers. Engoron has already issued a gag order against Trump to forbid him from talking about his court staff, citing concerns about their safety.

"Unless there's any real reason, you cannot refer to any members of my staff," Engoron said Friday.

Kise referenced a "news report" that he said raised concerns about Greenfield's impartiality in the case, and reported that the judge received a complaint on October 3 outlining those concerns.

Asked by a lawyer from the New York Attorney General's office what reporting Kise was talking about, the Trump lawyer was unsure.

"I don't know. I'm not the internet person. I want to say it's on Breitbart, maybe? I think it's on Breitbart," Kise said.

Kise appeared to be referring to an article from the far-right media organization about a Wisconsin man, Brock Fredin, who wrote a letter addressed to the New York judge, which complains that Engoron's gag order on Trump had required the former president to remove a re-tweet of his criticism of the clerk.

The letter, hosted on a website that accuses Greenfield of being a "partisan hack," also notes that her Instagram account includes posts showing her participating in events promoting Democratic politicians.

It also references a link to a YouTube video of an earlier Zoom hearing of the case, recorded by Fredin. Recording the proceedings is against the court's rules.

Engoron said he never received the letter.

"My memory is good enough that I would have remembered seeing that," he said.

"I had no idea until you said Breitbart about this news allegation," Engoron continued. "I'll let everyone in this room decide what to think about Breitbart."

After Eric Trump testified, they went back to arguing about the clerk

Kise complained that Greenfield, who has seldom spoken aloud during the trial's five weeks, has given the "perception of bias" with her notes passed to the judge on the bench, which the lawyers cannot see.

"I'm arguing against two adversaries, not one," Kise said, referring to both the Attorney General's lawyers and Greenfield.

Kise said he was "straining to find a rationale" for Engoron being concerned about Greenfield's security while permitting photographers to take pictures of her sitting next to him on the bench. He also noted that closed-circuit cameras, which allow observers in overflow rooms in the downtown Manhattan courthouse to watch the proceedings, had been adjusted in a way so that it's harder to see Greenfield.

"As for the camera being moved — I was vaguely aware the tech person was moving the camera," Engoron said. "I had no idea it's what we would be discussing today."

Eric Trump testified for about an hour Friday morning, answering questions about his signatures on documents regarding valuations of Trump Organization properties.

The New York Attorney General's office alleges the company gave false valuations to the properties, which led to banks giving favorable terms on loans and paying lower taxes that they shouldn't have. They're seeking to receive more than $250 million and ban the Trumps from running businesses in New York — issues that Engoron has already partially agreed with them on.

Trump's lawyers plan to continue appealing any rulings against them.

Asked about phone calls where he supposedly discussed property valuations, Eric Trump testified he couldn't recall them.

"I get thousands of calls a day. I don't remember a specific call," he said.

Lawyers for the attorney general's office pulled up a 2013 email where a consultant said he had a call where Eric Trump had "lofty" ideas about a particular property valuation.

"Of course, Eric has lofty ideas about values and assumes 1,000 price point per square foot was no problem," the consultant wrote.

When the Trump son left the stand, he whispered something to Engoron, who nodded and gave a small smile.

At the end of the short court day, Engoron said he'd "continue consulting" with his staff and understood that Trump's lawyers were making a "continuing objection" for the purpose of their appeal.

"Going forward, I don't want any other comments about my staff and how I communicate with them," he said.

"If you want to appeal, you have plenty of ammunition," he added. "I may consult my law clerks any place, any time, about any matter."

Kise said he's participated in 200 appeals, four before the Supreme Court, and that it was important for him to make a blow-by-blow record of all of Greenfield's individual actions.

"How many of those cases have been overturned because of notes passed between a judge and their law clerk?" Kevin Wallace, a lawyer for the attorney general's office asked.

"The answer is none," Kise said. "That's why it's a significant record to be made."

Engoron said he didn't view the case as politicized.

"I want to do this down the middle," he said. "It's a trial about Executive Law 63(12)."