A woman was arrested on Wednesday for approaching former US President Donald Trump but failing to reach him during a hearing in his civil trial in New York over alleged widespread fraud in the management of his real estate empire, court authorities said.
That woman, later identified as a staff member from another court, “disrupted the hearing by standing up, walking to the front of the courtroom and yelling at Mr. Trump that she wanted his help,” a court spokesman, Lucian Chalfen, said in a statement after the incident that occurred in the morning.
The woman, who was then behind the seats of the trial participants, including Donald Trump and his lawyers, was ordered to step back and sit on the public benches, an AFP journalist noted, and the hearing continued.
Wearing a skirt and blazer, she was “arrested by court security officers before she was near Mr. Trump, an attorney or any other party.” “Neither party was ever in danger,” the spokesman stressed.
She was peacefully escorted out of the courtroom and then out of the building and charged with “contempt of court.” She has also been placed “on immediate administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident and is barred from entering New York courts until further notice,” Mr. Chalfen added.
Since the beginning of this civil trial on October 2, the 45th President of the United States (2017-2021) has regularly attended the hearings, triggering significant security measures, but the proceedings are public.
In this civil lawsuit, the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, accuses the Republican and two of his children, Eric and Donald Jr., of overvaluing his New York golf courses, residences and skyscrapers by billions of dollars in the 2010s using cheaper loans from banks , which he denies.