Former president Trump on Wednesday taunted the federal judge presiding over his defamation trial after he threatened to boot the former president from his Manhattan courtroom for being disruptive.
Two days into Trump’s trial for allegedly defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, District Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened the 2024 presidential candidate with expulsion after an attorney for Carroll accused Trump of disparaging the plaintiff in the presence of the jury.
In a first trial last year, Trump was found liable for defaming Carroll in 2022 and sexually abusing her in the 1990s. That jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million.
The second trial, which is currently ongoing, deals with separate comments Trump made about Carroll in 2019, for which he was already found liable for defamation by Kaplan. The jury is now determining how much Trump owes to Carroll on top of the original $5 million from last year. Carroll is asking for over $10 million in compensatory damages, claiming that Trump ruined her reputation by accusing her of lying about his having raped her in a Manhattan department store decades ago.
“Mr. Trump has a right to be present here but that right can be forfeited if he is disruptive … or disregards our orders,” Kaplan said, according to the New York Times.
Carroll’s lawyers told the judge that Trump had said audibly, “It is a witch hunt. It really is a con job,” and that it was likely overheard by jurors. Shawn Crowley, one of Carroll’s lawyers, complained that Trump called her statements “false” and snarked that “she now seems to have finally gotten her memory back.”
“Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to —” the judge again scolded the defendant.
“I would love it. I would love it,” Trump said, according to the Times.
“I understand that you are probably very eager for me to do that,” Kaplan replied. “I know you would like that, because you just can’t control yourself in this circumstance, apparently.”
“You can’t either,” Trump retorted.
After the spat, Trump lawyer Michael Madaio request that Kaplan recuse himself from presiding over the trial, accusing him of harboring “hostility” toward his client. Kaplan rejected the suggestion. The first warning from Kaplan came earlier in the day, when he urged Trump to quiet down to avoid prejudicing the jury with his loud remarks.
“I’m going to ask that Mr. Trump take special care to keep his voice down when conferring with counsel so that the jury does not overhear,” Kaplan said.
The courtroom adjourned for lunch, after which Carroll continued her testimony.
Earlier in the day, Carroll said she had received intense backlash including death threats after she went public with her sexual assault allegations against Trump.
Trump’s courtroom appearance comes after he won a commanding victory in the Iowa caucuses on Monday. He heads to New Hampshire next week for the Granite State’s Tuesday primary.