A bomb threat was made against the home of Arthur Engoron just hours before the New York judge is scheduled to hear closing arguments in the state’s civil fraud trial against Donald Trump.
According to The Daily Beast, which first broke the story, a source with close knowledge of the situation indicated that early Thursday morning about half a dozen police vehicles and a bomb squad were dispatched to Engoron’s home in Long Island.
Nassau County Police confirmed to Rolling Stone that the department is investigating a swatting incident that took place on Thursday morning.
Engoron already found Trump liable for having committed fraud by overvaluing his properties and inflating his net worth over several years, thus deceiving banks, investors, and insurers. Throughout the trial, which will determine damages owed to the state and the ultimate fate of Trump’s New York-based business empire, Engoron and his staff have been subjected to a barrage of attacks by supporters of the former president.
In November, the New York court system reported that Engoron and his clerk, Allison Greenfield, had received a “deluge [in] the court’s chambers phone and the law clerk’s personal cell phone, personal emails and social media accounts [of] hundreds of threatening, harassing, disparaging and antisemitic messages.”
According to testimony given by Greenfield to Charles Hollon, a court officer-captain in the Department of Public Safety, the “threats against Justice Engoron and Ms. Greenfield are considered to be serious and credible and not hypothetical or speculative.”
In recent weeks, judges and prosecutors associated with the criminal cases against Trump have been the victims of swatting attempts. Swatting is a form of harassment consisting of falsely reporting a crime — such as a shooting, bomb threat, or hostage situation — in an attempt to force an aggressive police response, and potential harm, to an unsuspecting victim.
Over the weekend, an anonymous individual called in a false report of a shooting at the home of D.C. Judge Tanka Chutkan, who is currently presiding over the criminal election interference case the Justice Department brought against Trump. Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the Justice Department’s ongoing cases against Trump, was also swatted at his home on Christmas day.
As of Thursday morning, closing arguments are expected to continue as scheduled in New York. On Wednesday, Engoron rejected an attempt from Trump to personally deliver his own closing statement before the court after the former president and his attorneys refused to agree to keep things “relevant” and refrain from making a “campaign speech” or from attacking the judge, court staff, prosecutors, and other individuals involved in the trial.
Trump responded on Wednesday afternoon by attacking Engoron on Truth Social. The former president called the judge “MEAN & NASTY” in an all-caps rant.
“THE TRUMP HATING JUDGE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL ARE WORKING CLOSELY TOGETHER TO ‘SCREW ME,’ EVEN THOUGH I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG. THIS IS A RIGGED AND UNFAIR TRIAL — NO JURY, NO VICTIMS, A GREAT FINANCIAL STATEMENT — JUST BEFORE THE IMPORTANT IOWA PRIMARY — ELECTION INTERFERENCE. JUDGE REFUSES TO ABIDE BY THE JUNE APPELLATE DIVISION DECISION WHICH GAVE ME A TOTAL VICTORY IN THIS WITCH HUNT,” he wrote.
