Suspicious Powder Found at Courthouse Where Trump Judge Has Offices
An envelope containing white powder was found Wednesday morning at the New York State Supreme Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, officials said. The court building, at 60 Centre Street, contains offices belonging to Justice Arthur F. Engoron, the judge who oversaw former President Donald J. Trump’s civil fraud trial.
Police officers responded to a 911 call at 9:29 a.m. regarding the suspicious powder. A court officer had opened an envelope, and white powder fell onto his pants, the police said.
No injuries were reported, and the building was not evacuated. The police said that the Fire Department had responded to the discovery of the powder and that the investigation continued.
The officer declined medical attention, according to the Fire Department, as did another court officer who was exposed to the powder.
Justice Engoron and the Supreme Court building have been targets in the past. Last month, the Nassau County Police Department responded to a hoax bomb threat at the judge’s home on Long Island.
In December, a man set a small fire on the fourth floor of the courthouse that he then quickly extinguished. The Fire Department responded, and three floors of the building were evacuated, but no serious injuries were reported. It was unclear whether the fire was related to Mr. Trump’s trial.
Over the course of the 11-week civil fraud trial, which ended this month, Mr. Trump repeatedly attacked Justice Engoron on Truth Social, Mr. Trump’s website, and in statements he made in court. In November, Mr. Trump’s Republican allies also went after Justice Engoron publicly, with Representative Elise Stefanik of New York filing an ethics complaint accusing him of “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance,” and Laura Loomer, a far-right activist close to the former president, repeatedly attacking the judge and his family on social media.
Justice Engoron ruled this month in the civil fraud trial that the former president was liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordered him to pay a roughly $450 million penalty.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump offered a New York appeals court a $100 million bond to pause the penalty. His lawyers disclosed that their client did not have enough money to post bond for the full amount. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, argued in her case that Mr. Trump had fraudulently inflated his net worth by as much as $2 billion.
