Judge threatens to boot Trump over loud talk
NEW YORK >> Donald Trump was threatened with expulsion from his Manhattan civil trial Wednesday after he repeatedly ignored a warning to keep quiet while writer E. Jean Carroll testified that he shattered her reputation after she accused him of sexual abuse.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told the former president that his right to be present at the trial will be revoked if he remains disruptive. After an initial warning, Carroll's lawyer said Trump could still be heard making remarks to his lawyers, including “it is a witch hunt” and “it really is a con job.”
“Mr. Trump, I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial,” Kaplan said in an exchange after the jury was excused for lunch, adding: “I understand you're probably very eager for me to do that.”
“I would love it,” the Republican presidential frontrunner shot back, shrugging as he sat between lawyers Alina Habba and Michael Madaio at the defense table.
“I know you would.
“You just can't control yourself in these circumstances, apparently,” Kaplan responded.
“You can't either,” Trump muttered.
Afterward, Trump ripped the judge in brief remarks to reporters at an office building he owns near the courthouse. He called the Bill Clinton appointee “a nasty judge” and a “Trump-hating guy,” echoing his own social media posts that Kaplan was “seething and hostile,” and “abusive, rude, and obviously not impartial.”
Trump has made similar comments about the judge in another case: a state of New York lawsuit accusing him of inflating his property values to get better rates on insurance and loans.
On Wednesday, Judge Kaplan denied a request from Trump's lawyers that he step aside from the case involving Carroll, a longtime Elle magazine advice columnist.
Kaplan cracked down after Carroll lawyer Shawn Crowley complained for a second time that Trump could be heard “loudly saying things” throughout her testimony as he sat at the defense table, frequently tilting back and leaning over to speak with his lawyers.
Crowley suggested that if Carroll's lawyers could hear Trump from where they were sitting, about 12 feet from him, jurors might've been able to hear him, too. Some appeared to split their focus between Trump and the witness stand.
“I'm just going to ask that Mr. Trump take special care to keep his voice down when conferring with counsel to make sure the jury does not hear it,” Kaplan said before jurors returned to the courtroom after a morning break.
Earlier, without the jury in the courtroom, Trump could be seen slamming his hand on the defense table and uttering the word “man” when the judge again refused his lawyer's request that the trial be suspended on Thursday so he could attend his mother-in-law's funeral in Florida.
Trump, fresh from a win Monday in the Iowa caucuses, has made his various legal fights part of his campaign.
He sat in on jury selection Tuesday, then jetted to a New Hampshire rally.