Trump civil fraud case: Judge fines Trump $354M, says frauds 'shock the conscience'

Judge Engoron fined former President Trump $10,000 for violating a limited gag order after deciding that Trump referred disparagingly to his law clerk during a statement in the hallway.

Trump briefly took the witness stand, raising his hand and stating his name, "Donald John Trump, New York."

Engoron asked Trump, "Did you say, 'This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside of him?'"

Trump responded "Yes," but insisted he was referring to Michael Cohen, who was seated next to the judge in the witness chair.

"You sure you didn't mean the person on the other side?" Engoron asked, referring to his law clerk, whom Trump previously disparaged in a social media post that the judge ordered him to take down as part of the limited gag order he imposed earlier in the trial.

"Yes, I'm sure," Trump answered.

Trump conceded his social media post was "maybe unfair" but he added he thinks "she's very unfair."

Engoron decided Trump's hallway statement must have referred to his clerk because "there's a barrier" between the bench and Cohen, and he suggested Trump would have called Cohen by name.

The defense immediately balked at the fine.

"I just don't think there's any clear record here," defense attorney Chris Kise said.

Trump been sworn in as a witness for a hearing Judge Engoron is holding on whether he violated the limited gag order Engoron imposed earlier in the trial.

The former president then took the stand.

After Judge Engoron raised concerns that Trump had possibly violated the limited gag order the judge had imposed during the trial, Trump and his lawyers remained inside the courtroom at the start of the lunch break for a 25-minute conference that was sealed to the press.

Afterward, when asked by reporters about the private conference, Trump responded, "I can't tell you."

Trump otherwise praised his lawyer's cross examination of Michael Cohen, who admitted he lied under oath on multiple occasions.

"That was a Perry Mason moment," Trump said.

Defense attorney Alina Habba's cross-examination of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen featured frequent objections, cross talk and nonresponsive or argumentative answers that often breached customary courtroom decorum.

"You didn't ask me a yes-or-no question," Cohen scolded Habba at one point. "Yes I did," Habba shot back.

Cohen at times resisted answering questions, either objecting to them or insisting he did not understand them, while Habba paced the floor, blaring her questions into a hand-held microphone as Trump observed from the defense table.

"President Trump makes you relevant," Habba chastised Cohen. "If you didn't work for President Trump you wouldn't make most of your income today."

Cohen eventually conceded that he makes his living because of his prior relationship with Trump.

"Outside of your two podcasts, your merchandise and your books, is there any other form of income in your life?" Habba asked. "No," Cohen answered.

Habba's cross-examination concluded with a pointed question meant to question Cohen's motive for cooperating with the attorney general's investigation.

"Did you ever ask President Trump to pardon you while he was in the White House?" Habba asked.

"No," Cohen said.

"And he didn't pardon you?" she asked.

"No," Cohen replied.