Judge threatens to remove Trump from court in defamation trial

Testimony from columnist E. Jean Carroll draws visible reactions from former president.

Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower for Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Writer E. Jean Carroll testified on Wednesday that Donald Trump shattered her reputation, drawing visible reactions in court from the former US president, who received warnings from the presiding judge that his behaviour could get him tossed from the courtroom.

Carroll’s lawyer twice complained that Trump was speaking loudly and inappropriately from the defence table while the columnist was testifying. Tensions escalated, with U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan instructing the former president to keep his voice down in the presence of the jury. When Trump continued to make comments while Carroll testified, Kaplan threatened to exclude him from the proceedings.

“I understand you are probably very eager for me to do that,” Kaplan said.

“I would love it,” Trump said, putting up his hands.

“You just can’t control yourself in this circumstance apparently,” the judge said.

“You can’t either,” Trump shot back.

Wednesday was the second day of trial in a lawsuit filed by Carroll, 80 years old, against the 77-year-old Trump. The writer alleges Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and then defamed her by denying the allegations after she went public with them in 2019.

In a related case last year, a different jury found Trump civilly liable for the assault and for making defamatory comments about Carroll in 2022, awarding $US5 million in damages. The new trial centres on comments Trump made while president.

Trump’s voluntary attendance at this week’s proceedings in New York, which he is juggling with campaign events, marked the first time he and Carroll have been in the same room in years.

E. Jean Carroll arrives at Manhattan federal court on wednesday. Picture: AFP

Over several hours on the stand, Carroll dwelled little on the alleged assault in a department store dressing room. Instead, she testified at length that Trump’s critical comments led to threats from his supporters. She told the jury she was once a successful advice columnist and a writer for Saturday Night Live, until in 2019, when New York Magazine published an excerpt from her coming book that detailed her sexual assault claim. Trump denied having ever met her and said she was lying to boost book sales.

“Now I’m known as a fraud and a whack job,” Carroll said. She told the jury that she has been bombarded with as many as hundreds of daily menacing messages, including death threats.

Her lawyer, Shawn Crowley, complained that Trump during the testimony was audibly criticising Carroll and calling the case a witch hunt.

“It’s loud enough for us to hear it,” Crowley said.

During cross examination, Trump lawyer Alina Habba argued that Carroll had received online criticism even before Trump made the comments in question.

“Many people called you a liar on social media before the president issued his statement,” Habba said.

At one point, Habba asked for a mistrial because Carroll had deleted some threatening messages, which Habba said she had an obligation to keep due to the lawsuit. “Denied,” Kaplan said. “The jury will disregard everything Ms. Habba just said.”

Throughout her questioning of Carroll, Habba frequently tussled with the judge, who reprimanded her several times for disregarding basic court procedures. “You should refresh your memory about how it is you get a document into evidence,” Kaplan told her.

After his midday exchange with Kaplan, Trump sat more quietly for the rest of the afternoon, except for occasional shakes of his head. Meanwhile, as he sat in court, a series of posts made from his social-media account attacked Kaplan as biased and hostile.

“The Judge suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome as anyone can see from his last outburst against me in the Court,” one post said.

The Wall Street Journal