Donald Trump doesn’t plan to appear in court to address the rape charges against him — but he’s definitely making sure he’s part of the trial this week. This morning, Trump described the civil case against him as a “made up SCAM.” Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding over E. Jean Carroll’s suit for rape and defamation against the former president, said that while Trump appeared to be speaking to his fans, he was also speaking, “more troubling, to the jury in this case that has no business being spoken to.”
“I will speak to him and task him to refrain from any other posts about this case,” Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said. “I’ll do the best I can do, your honor.”
“I hope you’re more successful,” Kaplan said. “We’re getting into an area, conceivably, where your client might or might not be tampering with a new source of potential liability. I think you know what I mean.”
The judge has already ordered the Manhattan jury to remain anonymous, even from each other, in part to protect them from attacks online.
Even while Carroll testified about her accusations, the Trumps were posting. This afternoon, Carroll’s attorneys flagged yet another post, made this afternoon by Trump’s son, Eric, who wrote in a now-deleted tweet that her suit should be “illegal.”
So now there’s more than one Trump who is “perhaps now sailing in harm’s way,” the judge said. “If the report I just heard is true, remedies that might be available from this court might not be the only relevant remedies,” Kaplan warned. “If I were in your shoes, I would be having a conversation with your client.”
