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Court employee arrested after trying to approach Trump at NYC civil fraud trial

By Priscilla DeGregory, Steven Vago, Ben Kochman and Kyle Schnitzer

Published Oct. 18, 2023, 4:27 p.m. ET

A New York state court employee was arrested Wednesday after she tried to approach former President Donald Trump — claiming she wanted to help him — during his ongoing civil fraud trial in lower Manhattan, officials said.

The woman, who cops identified as Jenny Hannigan, was charged with contempt of court for disrupting the proceedings in Manhattan Supreme Court just before noon “by standing up and walking towards the front of the courtroom yelling out to Mr. Trump,” Office of Court Administration spokesman Lucian Chalfen said.

A Post reporter inside the courtroom at the time did not hear Hannigan yell, but she was caught talking loudly in the hallway after being escorted out.

Hannigan, 37 — of Baldwin, NY — is a secretary for a judge in Queens, according to a courthouse source. No one answered a phone number at an address listed for her there.

Hannigan, wearing a black dress and matching blazer, was stopped by court officers before she could get near Trump, 77, and his attorneys — who were seated at the defense table, Chalfen said in a statement.

“None of the parties were ever in any danger,” he said.

When the ex-president left court for the day at around 3:30 p.m. he said he didn’t know about the woman’s arrest — or the apparent commotion she caused.

“Who got arrested? We didn’t know anything about it,” he told reporters.

Hannigan was first asked to take a seat in the courtroom’s gallery before an officer asked to speak with her outside the room around 11:45 a.m.

She entered the media-packed hallway — speaking loudly and saying she was scared — as a group of officers surrounded her, asking her to lower her voice.

After escorting Hannigan downstairs to the first floor, officers cuffed her as she yelled “Help me!” “Save me!” for several minutes, according to a courthouse source.

Meanwhile, inside the courtroom at 60 Centre Street, testimony by Doug Larson, a real estate appraiser, continued without any major interruption while the drama unfolded outside.

Hannigan was charged with one count of second-degree contempt of court for disrupting the proceeding and was given a desk appearance ticket.

She was placed on administrative leave and barred from state courts buildings pending an investigation of the incident, Chalfen said.