‘Bizarre and biased behavior’: Elise Stefanik files complaint against judge in Trump civil case

Complaint filed against Judge Arthur Engoron with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct

Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik filed a complaint against the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, calling him out for “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance,” she announced on Twitter Friday.

Stefanik filed her complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, alleging that he is “not honoring [Trump’s] rights to due process and a fair trial,” according to her tweet. She pointed to examples of Engoron’s “clear judicial bias,” including telling Trump’s attorney last year that his client is “just a bad guy” who Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James “should go after.

His “bizarre and biased behavior is making New York’s judicial system a laughingstock,” Stefanik wrote.

“If Judge Engoron can railroad a billionaire New York businessman, a former President of the United States, and the leading presidential candidate, just imagine what he could do to all New Yorkers,” she told the commission. “Judge Engoron’s lawlessness sends an ominous and illegal warning to New York business owners: If New York judges don’t like your politics, they will destroy your business, the livelihood of your employees, and you personally. This Commission cannot let this continue.”

Stefanik took issue with the gag order the judge issued against Trump in early October and subsequent fines he imposed for violations. Engoron issued the order in response to Trump’s Truth Social post calling law clerk Allison Greenfield the “girlfriend” of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. (RELATED: ‘Political Witch Hunt’: Trump Rails Against Judge, Attorney General On Witness Stand)

Engoron hit Trump with $5,000 and $10,000 fines for what he deemed violations of the order, first for leaving the Truth Social post on his campaign website for 17 days after the gag order was issued and, second, for comments he made to reporters between proceedings in trial.

“If anyone in America must have the constitutional right to speak out against the judge, his staff, the witnesses, or the process, it’s a defendant going through a process he believes is politicized and weaponized against him,” Stefanik wrote. “To gag a defendant is un-American. It’s an illegal prior restraint on the defendant’s First Amendment rights, which even the progressive ACLU felt compelled to acknowledge after another Democrat judge–D.C. Obama U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan–illegally gagged President Trump.”

Before the trial started, Engoron ruled that Trump and his business had committed fraud by inflating his net worth and the value of his assets, deceiving banks and insurance companies.

Stefanik also noted that both Engoron and his staff are Democrat donors.

By KATELYNN RICHARDSON, CONTRIBUTOR