The principal law clerk in Trump’s New York fraud trial allegedly has a history of campaigning, canvassing, and petitioning for Democrat candidates in violation of federal clerk ethics guidelines.
The allegations appear in an Oct. 3 letter sent to Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the trial, from Brock Fredin, who operates X account Judicial Protest.
Yesterday, Engoron issued a gag order after the former president slammed the clerk, Allison Greenfield, in a Truth Social post.
“Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!” Trump wrote in the post, which included a screenshot from a Judicial Protest post.
The screenshot features a photo of Greenfield with U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York with the caption, “Why is Judge Engoron’s Principal Law Clerk … palling around with Chuck Schumer?”
The judge, without naming Trump, said “one of the defendants” posted a “disparaging, untrue and personally-identifying post” about the staff member, which was sent to “millions of other recipients.”
“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are not appropriate and I will not tolerate it under any circumstance,” Engoron said, per The Hill.
The gag order bars Trump from posting or speaking publicly about members of the judge’s staff members.
The Truth Social post has since been removed per the judge’s orders.
In his letter to Engoron, Fredin claims the ordered removal is a violation of his First Amendment rights. He further argues that the judge and Greenfield should be investigated over “any ethical violations or misconduct in connection with her partisan political speech.”
“The Court’s Gag Order is a clear attempt to paper over the apparent ethical violations by Ms. Greenfield and Your Honor and redirect animus and negative headlines at President Trump,” states the letter, which was obtained by Timcast News. “Without this letter putting Ms. Greenfield’s misconduct in the record, the Court’s Gag Order of today will no doubt be the dam that will break causing the issuance of even more Gag Orders in other cases against President Trump that will unconstitutionally infringe on his First Amendment rights.”
The letter cites numerous examples from Greenfield’s now-private Instagram account where the law clerk endorsed local Democrat organizations, petitioned on behalf of and canvassed for New York Democrats, and attended events for groups including Village Independent Democrats, the Grand Street Democrats, the Chelsea Reform Democrat Club, the United Democrat Organization, and the Downtown Independent Democrats.
The letter includes many screenshots from Greenfield’s account in an attachment.
“Again, all these posts were made by Ms. Greenfield while employed as a Principal Law Clerk for Justice Engoron,” Fredin writes. “Even more important, many of the posts were made during the pendency of the instant People v. Trump et al. matter before Your Honor. Moreover, Ms. Greenfield donated to two Democrat candidates during the 2022 election cycle in New York.”
The letter states that Greenfield’s Instagram account is not personal, but an account she used as a platform for her bid as a Democrat to become a Manhattan Civil Court judge in 2022.
“The fact that Ms. Greenfield set her account to private before the media frenzy around her account today is deeply troubling and indicative that there is something Ms. Greenfield and Your Honor wish to hide (which is apparent from the screenshots in Attachment C),” Fredin wrote.
While Fredin acknowledges that "New York State has failed to enact or publish formal ethical rules for law clerks," the letter cites a portion of the federal law clerk manual, Maintaining the Public Trust, Ethics for Federal Judicial Law Clerks, which states the following:the Code of Conduct prohibits law clerks from engaging in both partisan and nonpartisan political activity. You may not run for office; campaign for others; publicly endorse or oppose candidates; or contribute funds to political organizations, candidates, or events. You should not even take passive actions that might link you with a political issue, such as displaying a political sign or bumper sticker.
Fredin also states Greenfield violated a half dozen provisions in the New York Judicial Canons which prohibit any involvement in political parties.
Fredin further accuses Engoron of failing to supervise Greenfield’s activity and then attempting to cover up the alleged misconduct.
“Your Honor’s conduct was not that of a discerning judge concerned about upholding the integrity, impartiality and public confidence of the court system,” he writes. “Instead, Your Honor’s actions reek of an attempt to conceal and cover-up both your own and Ms. Greenfield’s egregious ethical violations and misconduct and to avoid further examination of Ms. Greenfield’s Instagram posts.”
Fredin concludes the letter by requesting an investigation and asking the judge to rescind his order for Trump to remove the post.
“Moreover, appropriate inquiries should be opened into whether Your Honor and Ms. Greenfield engaged in any ethical violations or misconduct in connection with her partisan political speech,” he concludes.
Cassandra MacDonald contributed to this report
