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Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A Manhattan Supreme Court judge on Friday fined former President Donald Trump $5,000 for violating a gag order placed on him during his civil fraud trial in New York. "Donald Trump has received ample warning from this court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order," Judge Arthur Engoron said in his order Friday. "He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it.
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"Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this court is way behind the 'warning stage.'"
Engoron also threatened Trump twice with jail time if the former president violates the order again, CNN reported.
"Make no mistake: Future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more serious sanctions, which may include, but are not limited to, steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him."
Engoron issued the gag order Oct. 3 after Trump posted a photo of court clerk Allison Greenfield with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on his Truth Social site with the caption "Schumer's girlfriend."
The order placed a ban on any emails, posts or public remarks about the judge's staff.
Engoron asked Trump's attorneys to explain why he should not be fined or face jail time after a screenshot attacking the judge's law clerk remained on donaldtrump.com in a "blatant violation" of the gag order on Trump.
"I made it clear failure to comply will result in serious sanctions. It remained on the Donald J. Trump campaign site and in fact it has been on there for the past 17 days, [and] it was removed late last night after an email from this court," Engoron said, adding that "incendiary untruths can and have led to serious physical harm."
Engoron said he would take the explanation provided by Trump's attorney, Christopher Kise, under advisement before issuing a ruling.
The liberal website MeidasTouch posted an article about the screenshot remaining up despite the gag order, which caught the attention of the judge and other media outlets. The post was ultimately removed on Thursday night.
Kise said it was "automatically" added to the website and the fact that it remained on the site after the gag order was issued was "truly inadvertent."
"The Truth Social post was taken down when the court asked," Kise said, also adding that Trump refrained from making comments about court staff after the order.
"But it appears no one took it down on the campaign website," Kise said.
Trump has also taken aim at Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case against him alleging that he and his two adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump organization committed fraud by inflating the values of his real estate properties by more than $2 billion.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan also placed a gag order on Trump in his election interference case, which his lawyers have sought to appeal.
