Have they no sense of decency? Trump, his lackeys try to smear Judge Engoron's law clerk

On Friday, Trump Republicans in the House turned their ire on the judge presiding over Trump’s civil fraud trial and his law clerk.

- Robert Reich

Representative Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking member of the House Republican leadership, filed an ethics complaint against Judge Arthur F. Engoron — claiming that the judge and his law clerk are biased against Trump and calling on Engoron to resign.

This is the latest chapter in the Trump Republican playbook of character assassination and intimidation.

I once had the great opportunity to be a law clerk to a judge of immense intelligence and generosity: Frank M. Coffin, then chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. I learned then that the relationship between a law clerk and a judge is built on mutual trust. A law clerk becomes the intellectual partner (a junior partner, to be sure) of a judge. A judge depends on his law clerk and protects that relationship and clerk.

Early on in his civil trial for fraud, Trump understood that a way to harass Judge Engoron and attack his integrity was to go after his law clerk, Allison Greenfield, whom Trump described as “Trump-hating.” Trump even made up a story that Greenfield was dating Sen. Chuck Schumer (who is married) and shared Greenfield’s Instagram details on Truth Social, effectively ushering a scourge of far-right boors onto her social media accounts.

When Trump’s attorneys continued to attack Ms. Greenfield, Judge Engoron said, “It's a shame you've descended to this level,” and issued a limited gag order barring Trump or his attorneys from speaking about the judge’s law clerk. The judge cited “repeated, inappropriate remarks” about court staff and the “hundreds” of threats that the court has received since the trial began, “falsely accusing his principal law clerk of bias against them and of improperly influencing the ongoing bench trial.”