It’s me, Don! Post reporter falsely tagged as Judge Engoron’s ‘son’ at Trump’s fraud trial
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Donald Trump keeps sharing a photo on social media featuring a bright-red arrow pointing at the head of a bearded man at his civil fraud trial — claiming he is the son of the judge.
The Post can now confirm that the pictured bespectacled, well-groomed target is not the kin of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.
I should know — I’m the guy in the photo.
Trump, 77, on Tuesday yet again signal-boosted the photo of me sitting a few rows into the court gallery along with an article by a fringe-right activist inexplicably claiming Engoron’s son is “financially benefitting” from being given a “prominent” seat at the trial.
The post went out to Trump’s 6.52 million followers on the app Truth Social.
It was the second time within a month that the former president shared the photo of me and a screenshot of the Nov. 7 article from Laura Loomer, an anti-Muslim activist who once described Islam as a “cancer” and has been banned from social media sites in the past.
I was first tipped off to this when Trump shared the post on Truth Social in late November but felt it wasn’t worth giving any air.
But after Trump shared it again Tuesday — and upped the ante by including a comment from famously fact-challenged disgraced ex-Congressman George Santos — I thought it was worth setting the record straight.
Santos had responded to Loomer’s Nov. 7 story with a “fire” emoji and asked his then-colleagues on the House Oversight Committee to “investigate further” the Engoron son situation for possible “misconduct.”
Perhaps that comment was mere misdirection from Santos — who was being probed at the time by a separate House committee, which days later exposed his alleged use of campaign funds on personal splurges such as X-rated OnlyFans subscriptions, Botox and spa treatments.
Who knows?
As for The Donald, it’s unclear if he knows who I am. But hopefully he’ll soon know who I’m not.
He has already come under fire for disparaging Engoron’s top law clerk with a quickly debunked claim that she was the “girlfriend” of a prominent New York senator — and paid $15,000 for breaches of a gag order.
It’s unlikely that Trump’s Tuesday post would be considered to breach the gag order, which only prevents him from criticizing the court’s staff, and does not cover suggestions about the judge’s son — or Post reporters, for that matter.
It’s just weird, though.
Lawyers for Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James are due back in court Jan.11 for closing statements in the non-jury fraud trial.
I plan to be there as well, beard and all. Or maybe I’ll keep them guessing with a mustache.
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