Judge in Trump’s NY civil fraud case stands by $10,000 fine despite fresh objections from lawyers

By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has reaffirmed a $10,000 fine he imposed on Donald Trump over an out-of-court comment that the former president made during his civil business fraud trial. The development came Thursday, after Trump’s lawyers urged Judge Arthur Engoron to rethink the penalty. The judge fined Trump on Wednesday after finding that his comments to TV cameras outside the courtroom violated a gag order that bars participants in the trial from commenting publicly on the judge’s staff. Outside court Wednesday, the Republican presidential front-runner complained that Engoron, a Democrat, is “a very partisan judge with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him,  perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”