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Former President Donald Trump was widely criticized after he shared ousted New York Republican Representative George Santos' conspiracy theory that the son of Arthur Engoron—who is overseeing a $250 million civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his business—was attending his trial.
In fact, it was revealed that the person who was photographed at the trial was actually New York Post reporter Ben Kochman—not that that stopped Trump from parroting the lie anyway, suggesting Engoron's son Ian was somehow benefitting financially from it due to his role at a Democratic activist law firm.
The theory, initially propagated by far-right activist Laura Loomer, accused Judge Engoron of making the trial a "family affair" by allegedly reserving a seat for Ian Engoron. Loomer's post contained images of a bearded man she claimed was Ian Engoron, insinuating financial benefits for the judge through his son's attendance, although no clear explanation was provided.
Santos amplified Loomer's claims, alerting the House Committee on Oversight for further investigation into potential "misconduct" that might result in a "monetary benefit" for the judge's son. Trump then shared these posts on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
You can see the posts below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
However, the theory was debunked when it was revealed that the person in the pictures shared by Loomer and Santos was not Ian Engoron but New York Post reporter Ben Kochman.
Kochman addressed the false claim by publishing an article titled “It’s me, Don! Trump keeps falsely tagging Post reporter as fraud trial judge’s son in rants,” accompanied by his picture to clarify the error.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Kochman said:
"Donald Trump keeps re-posting a photo of a bearded man at his civil fraud trial. He's signal-boosted claims that the guy is the son of the judge — and that this somehow is a scandal."
There's just one problem. The guy in the photo is me."
You can see his post below.
Kochman wrote the following in his article:
"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 (R-NY) — I thought it was worth setting the record straight."
Trump was swiftly criticized.
This isn’t the first instance of Trump targeting individuals associated with the trial.
Previously, he posted on social media about Engoron's law clerk, Allison Greenfield, claiming she was romantically involved with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Despite a gag order from Judge Engoron prohibiting Trump from attacking the judge or his staff, these messages stayed up, resulting in a $15,000 fine for Trump.
While Trump’s recent post about Engoron’s supposed “son” might not be considered a violation of the gag order, it's evident that these attempts to cast aspersions on trial-related individuals have repeatedly fallen short of evidence and have drawn substantial criticism.