Donald Trump is now taking aim at the wife of the New York judge overseeing his $250 million civil fraud trial, Raw Story reports. On his Truth Social platform Tuesday, the former president shared at least four posts from conservative activist Laura Loomer that accuse New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron's wife, Dawn Marie Engoron, of attacking Trump via images shared to X/Twitter. One post Loomer screenshotted showed the account, screen-named Dawn Marie with the handle @dm_sminxs, post an image of a person spray-painting "F—k Trump" on a brick wall, while others showed him in prison wear. Other posts from the account also mocked Trump lawyer Alina Habba's courtroom performance.
In a statement to Newsweek earlier this month, Dawn Engoron firmly denied making the posts and told the outlet that the account does not belong to her. "I do not have a Twitter account. This is not me. I have not posted any anti Trump messages," she said. While conservatives argued the posts should result in a mistrial or dismissal of the civil case, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that the social media of a judge's spouse is "not by itself grounds to disqualify a judge," pointing to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni Thomas', pro-Trump posts.
"Judges themselves have to post something that raises concerns about their impartiality for recusal or disqualification to be appropriate. Family member social media activity, even one's spouse, isn't enough," Rahmani added. Trump's sharing of these attacks comes as he awaits a ruling from an appeals court on a gag order Engoron imposed on him early in the trial that prohibited him from talking about court staff. The gag order, which has been temporarily suspended does not bar discussing the family members of court personnel.
