Trump spreads alleged shirtless photos of fraud trial judge

In a now-deleted post on his platform Truth Social, the former president shared a link to an article from The Gateway Pundit

Donald Trump’s latest attack on the judge overseeing his high-profile civil fraud case in New York took a bizarre turn, with the former president sharing what appeared to be topless photos of 74-year-old Arthur Engoron on social media.

In a now-deleted post on his platform Truth Social, Mr Trump shared a link to an article from The Gateway Pundit which showed two pictures, one of Mr Engoron in the gym, and another photo showing the nude torso of a man.

The Independent has been unable to verify the validity of the photos, though the latter picture appeared on an alumni newsletter for The Wheatley School Alumni Association, which is edited by Mr Engoron.

Similar pictures appeared in other editions of the newsletter, though these also could not be confirmed to be of Mr Engoron.

The headline of the article shared by Mr Trump, echoed some of the former president’s own courtroom rhetoric, alleging the “unhinged” judge was “under scrutiny for allegedly posting half-naked photos of himself to high school alumni newsletter he controls.”

Judge Arthur Engoron (Getty Images)

It comes as Mr Engoron continues to clash with Mr Trump and his lawyers in court, as proceedings in New York rumble on. The former president is accused of vastly inflating the value of some of the properties in his business empire.

During his own testimony on Monday, Mr Trump fired multiple digs at Mr Engoron, accusing him of calling him a “fraud”.

Though not looking at the judge he said: “You ruled against me and you said I was a fraud. He called me a fraud, and he didn’t know anything about me.

“He’s the one who didn’t value the property correctly. How do you call a man a fraud who has a property that’s 50 to 100 times more … It’s a terrible thing you’ve done.”

Mr Engoron had earlier warned Mr Trump’s attorney’s to “control your client”, stating: “These people are not here to hear what he has to say. He is here to answer questions.”

The former president has previously been fined $15,000 for breaching a gag order put in place by Judge Engoron.