politics

Judge Threatens to Boot Trump From Courtroom in E. Jean Carroll Case

Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

The New York judge presiding over writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against Donald Trump threatened to remove the former president from the chamber after he was disruptive during her testimony.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan warned Trump that he could be asked to leave the courtroom following repeated complaints from Carroll’s attorney Shawn Crowley that Trump was making loud comments while Carroll was on the stand. Crowley said Trump could be heard speaking to his lawyers Alina Habba and Michael Madaio, saying things such as “It really is a con job” and “It is a witch hunt,” as reported by the Associated Press.

“Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which what has been reported to me consists of. And if he disregards court orders, Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial,” Kaplan said, per CNN. He then added, “I understand you’re probably eager for me to do that.”

Trump then retorted, “I would love it.”

It’s not the only heated exchange to occur between Kaplan and Trump’s team. The former president’s lawyers have been pushing for an adjournment of the trial for one week in order for Trump to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs, who passed away last week. Kaplan has denied the request repeatedly, writing that a delay “would disrupt and inconvenience prospective jurors, counsel, court staff, and security arrangements” but noting that Trump is free to attend the funeral if he chooses. Notably, Trump did not attend the previous trial involving Carroll.

Habba attempted to raise the issue of an adjournment again on Wednesday, and Kaplan immediately shut it down.

“I will hear no more argument on it,” he said. “None. Do you understand that word? Sit down.”

The ongoing proceedings are intended to determine how much Trump will be ordered to pay in damages to Carroll after being found liable for defamation and sexual abuse last year. Carroll took Trump to court after he alleged she lied about her accusation that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, which she made in a New York cover story.

Carroll took the stand Wednesday, testifying about how Trump’s verbal attacks on her character have “shattered” her reputation.

“Previously I was known simply as a journalist and had a column, and now I’m known as the ‘liar,’ the ‘fraud,’ and the ‘whack job,’” Carroll said, according to the Washington Post.

The former Elle columnist described how Trump’s words sparked an increase in online threats against her life, prompting her to ramp up personal security measures including buying bullets for a gun given to her by her father.

“To have the president of the United States, one of the most powerful persons on earth, call me a liar for three days and say it 26 times — I counted them. It ended the world I had been living in, and I lived in a new world,” she said. “I was attacked. I was attacked on Twitter, I was attacked on Facebook, I was attacked in news blogs, I was attacked, brutally attacked, in messages.”

In a series of TruthSocial posts that went up during the trial, Trump attacked Kaplan as a “seething and hostile Clinton-appointed Judge” and criticized his decision to not adjourn the proceedings Thursday.

“He is abusive, rude, and obviously not impartial but, that’s the way this crooked system works!,” he wrote.

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Judge Threatens to Boot Trump From E. Jean Carroll Trial