Engoron allows Trump to subpoena lawyer who ‘boasted’ of talk with civil fraud judge

Donald Trump can move forward with subpoenaing a lawyer who publicly claimed to have met with the judge who oversaw the former president’s civil fraud trial, according to a court order.

Judge Arthur Engoron denied portions of Trump’s subpoena but determined that it was “not wholly without merit,” the judge wrote in the order, filed Tuesday.

Trump’s attorneys had requested to issue a subpoena for documents to New York-based lawyer Adam Bailey after Bailey told a local NBC affiliate that he privately spoke with Engoron about the case weeks before Engoron announced his verdict against Trump in it.

Bailey “boasted” to the media about the meeting, Engoron said, observing that he had to allow some form of Trump’s subpoena for that reason.

“Mr. Bailey has opened the door by making his extraordinary claims to the media, in which he, by his own admission, stated that he attempted to offer unsolicited legal advice to this Court,” Engoron wrote.

Engoron found Trump liable for years of business fraud, and in February, he affirmed the finding and ordered Trump and Trump Organization executives to pay $454 million in damages and interest.

NBC New York reported on Bailey’s conversation with Engoron three months later, prompting an ethics probe into whether it was appropriate.

Engoron denied through a spokesperson at the time that anything “untoward” had occurred with Bailey.

“No ex parte conversation concerning this matter occurred between Justice Engoron and Mr. Bailey or any other person,” spokesman Al Baker said. “The decision Justice Engoron issued February 16 was his alone, was deeply considered, and was wholly uninfluenced by this individual.”

Trump, who is appealing Engoron’s verdict, still requested to issue a sweeping subpoena for documents of Bailey’s communications that could shed light on any of his interactions with the court.

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Engoron ruled that the subpoena was too broad and “unquestionably would permit an improper wholesale fishing expedition” but offered a narrower version of it for Bailey to comply with instead.

Engoron ordered Bailey to furnish the documents within seven days.