Trump posts weird story that accuses Judge Arthur Engoron of posting bare-chested photos

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday amplified a story that accuses the judge presiding over his $250 million civil fraud trial of posting off-color photos in his Long Island high school alumni newsletter.

Hours after his daughter Ivanka testified in Judge Arthur Engoron’s courtroom, Trump reposted a story from the right-wing Gateway Pundit site claiming that the judge published bare-chested photos of himself in the online newsletter.

Trump posted the story with the headline: “Unhinged Judge Engoron under scrutiny” on his social media site even though there is little sign of any controversy over the publication.

Engoron, a 1967 graduate of the Wheatley School, a public school in Williston, New York, curated the newsletter, which serves fellow alumni.

Engoron declined to comment to the Daily News, referring questions to a spokesman for the New York court system.

It’s true that Engoron apparently posted before-and-after workout photos in 2020 and 2021 issues of the newsletter.

The story claims with no evidence that the pictures are of Engoron, although that’s not clear from the newsletters that they depict him. Indeed it’s not clear what the photos really suggest.

Engoron, who has showed a healthy sense of humor from the bench, has said Trump is free to criticize him.

The former president regularly derides Engoron as “unhinged” or worse, even though the judge is empowered to deliver verdict in the case.

The judge did issue a gag order barring the former president from posting commentary about his court clerk and other staff, after he accused the clerk of being biased against him because she was photographed with Sen. Chuck Schumer. He later extended the order to his defense lawyers after they attacked the clerk in open court.

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