On his second day of testimony, fireworks erupted between Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Michel Cohen, and his current legal defence team in a high-stakes fraud trial.

The heated day featured multiple procedural skirmishes between the defence attorneys, prosecutors, and Judge Arthur Engoron, culminating in a $10,000 (£8,250) fine against Mr Trump for violating a gag order against speaking or posting about court staff.

Earlier in the day, Mr Trump had told reporters that Mr Engoron was a "very partisan judge, with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is". His comments followed a previous social media attack against the judge's clerk earlier this month, which had led to the gag order and a fine.

In a dramatic moment shortly after 2 PM, the judge forced Mr Trump to briefly take the stand to settle the matter.

When questioned on the stand, Mr Trump told the judge he was referring to "You and Cohen", not the judge and his clerk.

Yet Judge Engoron found his explanation "not credible," and fined him $10,000 for a repeated violation of the gag order.

 

"I am very protective of my staff as I believe I should be," Judge Engoron had said earlier in the day, citing the "heated environment" around the case. "I don't want anybody to get killed."

It was the capstone of a long and rocky day in court starring Mr Trump's former personal counsel.

Mr Cohen is a key witness in a case brought by New York attorney general Letitia James, which alleges that the Trump Organization and its top figures fraudulently inflated the value of its assets to secure more favourable loans.

Judge Engoron has already ruled the organisation committed fraud, and the current trial is focused on additional charges. There is no jury, and an unfavourable ruling could put Mr Trump's New York real estate empire in peril.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump's team was clearly taking the offensive.

 

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I’d believe Mike over trump any day next time donald get the oral stool mouth I hope the fine doubles every time .he also stormed out of the court in his usual hissey fit 

Performance art for an audience of one.

 

With Trump getting a slap for running his mouth against a court clerk.

 

Seeing Trump on the stand in front of a judge reading Trump the law must have been a wonderful sight.

This should be televised, it would be comedy gold.

 

So Trump threw teddy out of the pram and stormed out of court!

 

Laugh - I tell you, I nearly bought a round!