Donald Trump's gag order temporarily lifted in civil fraud case after maligning staff

Donald Trump is now free to talk as he pleases — at least for now — after an appeals court ruled that the gag order placed against him in the New York civil fraud lawsuit can be temporarily lifted.

Judge David Friedman, of the state’s Appellate Division, First Department, issued the ruling from the bench on Thursday (November 16), claiming that the gag order violated Trump's right to free speech, as provided in the First Amendment.

Friedman's stay on Judge Arthur Engoron's gag order will remain in place until further notice.

Trump's attorneys had no comment about the stay for The Express as of press time.

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Last month, Judge Arthur Engoron issued the gag order against the former president after the ex-president made a post lashing out at a court employee.

Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the civil fraud case, said the since-deleted Truth Social post about his clerk was unacceptable.

“This morning, one of the defendants posted to a social media account a disparaging, untrue post about a member of my staff,” he said.

“Although I have since ordered the post to be deleted, it has been mailed out to millions of others. Personal attacks of my staff are inappropriate and I won’t tolerate them.

“Yesterday I warned the counsel of this and it was disregarded. Failure to abide by this directive will result in serious sanctions – I will be very clear.”

The former President was hit with a limited gag order, which applied to all parties in the case and pertains only to verbal attacks on court staff.

Trump said originally: “Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!"