[ad_1]
On November 30, the First Judicial Department took away Donald Trump’s favorite chew toy in the New York civil fraud case. After a temporary stay, it reinstated Justice Arthur Engoron’s gag order barring Trump and his attorneys from attacking the judge’s principal law clerk.
Ever resourceful, Trump immediately moved on to attacking the judge’s wife and son — or at least what he thought was the judge’s wife and son. In a series of posts on Truth social, he republished false allegations by conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, claiming that an anonymous anti-Trump Twitter account was owned by Mrs. Engoron. Loomer also alleged that a man with a beard seated in the courtroom during the trial was the judge’s son, a lawyer in New York.
A court spokesman immediately denied the first claim, saying, “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.”
But the identity of the “son” remained unclear until yesterday when Trump reposted the false claims about the judge’s family.
“The Post can now confirm that the pictured bespectacled, well-groomed target is not the kin of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron,” wrote New York Post reporter Ben Kochman. “I should know — I’m the guy in the photo.”
Kochman, who described the experience as “weird,” said that he ignored the original post in November because it “wasn’t worth giving any air.” But with Trump rehashing the allegations on social media this week, he was finally motivated to respond.
“As for The Donald, it’s unclear if he knows who I am. But hopefully he’ll soon know who I’m not,” Kochman continued.
This is a rather odd position for a journalist who regularly covers Donald Trump and spent weeks watching prosecutors show that knowingly false statements were a staple of the former president’s business.
After being repeatedly informed that there was no major election fraud, he continued to say it over and over anyway. Atlanta poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss had to leave their homes after he amplified lies about them. He has actual knowledge that Mrs. Engoron doesn’t own that Twitter account, and he’s still reposting the same lies. And, not for nothing, but multiple posts claiming that the photo of Kochman is the judge’s son are still up at Truth Social a day after the reporter corrected the record.
But perhaps Donald Trump will remove the post, screen-shotting for integrity and regretting the error. LOL, you bet.
It’s me, Don! Trump keeps falsely tagging Post reporter as fraud trial judge’s son in rants [NY Post]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes the Law and Chaos substack.
[ad_2]
