In an eyebrow-raising move yesterday, Judge Arthur Engoron was reassigned to the Trump property valuation case after being removed only hours before.
In a matter of four curious hours, the embattled judge was anonymously taken off the much-maligned case, and then put back on it just as mysteriously.
Engoron came under fire for the appearance of bias as far back as 2023, when Rep. Elise Stefanik filed an ethics complaint against him for "weaponized lawfare". From a Fox News article that same year:
Engoron has exhibited “clear judicial bias” against Trump, including by telling Trump’s attorney that the former president is “just a bad guy” whom New York Attorney General Letitia James “should go after,” Stefanik, R-N.Y., said in a letter to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. She said the judge has failed to honor Trump’s due process rights, concerns that she said are exacerbated by the former president’s position as the front-runner for the presidential nomination. Engoron is presiding over a bench trial in the $250 million lawsuit, meaning the judge will also determine guilt and any penalties in the case. The suit, filed by James last year, accuses Trump of inflating asset values for financial gain. Trump testified angrily on Monday in the high-stakes case and has complained and clashed with the judge for weeks.
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As those who followed the case will recall, Engoron issued a series of gag orders in an attempt to muzzle Trump speaking out about apparent impropriety in the handling of his case. Trump accused Engoron's law clerk, Allison Greenfield, of influencing the case inappropriately. He referred to her as "[Chuck] Schumer's girlfriend" on social media.
Greenfield was seen whispering repeatedly to Engoron during court proceedings. Engoron himself was lampooned in conservative media for posing for the press cameras during the early days of the case, seemingly relishing his role as part of the left's efforts to derail Trump's bid for a second presidential term.
Updates on Trump's sentencing scheduled at 9:30am.
— Stacy (@PaTrumpGirl) January 10, 2025
Court names new judge in Trump civil fraud case before reassigning previous judge hours later.
For some reason they replaced Judge Arthur Engoron, but hours later, the court put him back on the casehttps://t.co/rw4gowBzq2 pic.twitter.com/KW05g7YWCf
The decision to remove and then replace Engoron was done behind closed doors, with no attribution given--reports refer only to "automated messages" that resulted in the swap. The move has garnered considerable ire online among Trump supporters, and unsurprisingly so, given the barrage of questionable legal maneuvering in the Southern District over the past four years in regards to Trump.
In other Trump legal news, the president-elect is scheduled to be sentenced in another highly questionable case brought by New York by Judge Juan Merchan. Merchan also issued a gag order when Trump correctly stated that the judge's daughter heads a PR firm that promotes Democrat political campaigns, going so far as using the Merchan case as fodder for donations to pols such as Sen. Adam Schiff.
Loren Merchan, who heads Authentic Campaigns, raised a reported $93 million for her clients based on the case presided over by her father, himself a Democratic donor.
