Representative Elise Stefanik, Chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, has filed an official judicial complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron, the Democrat donor judge overseeing Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York. She accuses Engoron of “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance in New York’s disgraceful lawsuit” against the former president and his business empire.
“This judge’s bizarre behavior has no place in our judicial system,” Rep. Stefanik wrote in her complaint to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which she shared on X (formerly Twitter).
The Congresswoman highlighted incidents including Engoron’s statement in February 2022 that Trump was not being singled out by New York Attorney General Letitia James but is “just a bad guy,” and his recent courtroom tirades against the former president and his counsel, respectively, that “we are not here to listen to what you have to say” and “I am not here to hear what he has to say.”
Stefanik also questioned the judge’s donations to the Democrats, and the donations of his staff to the Democrats, alleging they broke judicial rules. She also said a gag order Engoron imposed on Trump to prevent commentary on his law clerk’s political bias is unlawful.
“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,” Stefanik stressed.
🚨🚨🚨 I just filed an official judicial complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron for his inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance in New York’s disgraceful lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization.
Americans are sick and tired of the blatant… pic.twitter.com/5HRzSle2LV
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) November 10, 2023