In an unexpected turn of events, Trump was called to the stand and fined during his civil trial in New York after he again broke a gag order imposed by the judge.

A judge presiding over the $250 million fraud trial against Donald Trump took the unusual step of ordering the former president to the stand, where he was grilled over remarks minutes earlier that broke a gag order, fined $10,000 and warned that next time the penalty will be worse.

The drama began when Trump told reporters during a break in proceedings that Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the civil case, is “a very partisan judge with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside him – perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”

Engoron called Trump to testify after learning about the comments. Trump said his remarks were referencing Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and business associate, who was testifying on the witness stand on Wednesday.

But, in light of previous events that led to the gag order, the judge brusquely rejected Trump’s testimony.

"As the trier of fact, I find that the witness is not credible," CNN quoted Engoron as saying on Wednesday in response to Trump's explanation.

Earlier this month, Engoron imposed a partial gag order on Trump after the former president posted a photo of the judge’s law clerk – who also sits next to the judge – alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and referred to her as “Schumer’s girlfriend.” The order barred Trump, his defense team and the prosecution team from making public statements about his staff.

While Trump deleted the post from his TruthSocial site, he was fined $5,000 for violating the gag order after it was discovered last week that the post was never deleted from his personal website and had been live for two weeks.

“Make no mistake,” Engoron said at the time. “Future violations, whether intentional or unintentional will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include, but are not limited to, steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him.”

So Engoron had little patience when Trump broke the gag order again – this time, directly outside his courtroom – and appeared to obfuscate when confronted.He fined Trump $10,000, adding another stiff warning: “Don’t do it next time, or it’ll be worse.”

Tensions ran high for the rest of the day in the courtroom.

About an hour later, Trump’s defense team asked the judge for a directed verdict, arguing that Cohen admitted that Trump had never directly asked him to inflate his personal financial statements. In reality, Cohen described how Trump asked him to inflate his finances like a mob boss would ask someone to do something – without directly asking him. Engoron denied the request for a verdict, at which point Trump stormed out of the courtroom – surprising even his son, Eric Trump, and his Secret Service team, which chased after him. Perhaps a moment of manufactured mayhem, perhaps a moment sobering accountability – perhaps a mix of both – Trump huffed, “I’m leaving.”