Judge Threatens To Kick Trump Out Of Courtroom; Trump Says He Would 'Love It'

A Manhattan judge overseeing the defamation case against Donald Trump warned that he would toss the former president out of the courtroom if he kept making snarky comments that the jury could hear.

"Mr. Trump has a right to be present here," said Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. "That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which is what has been reported to me, and if he disregards court orders."

Kaplan then addressed Trump directly, saying: "Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial," to which Trump replied: "I would love it."

"I understand you’re probably very eager for me to do that because you just can’t control yourself," Kaplan replied, to which Trump shot back "You can't either."

The exchange followed an objection raised by Shawn Crowley, one of E. Jean Carroll's attorneys, over the issue of Trump speaking loudly enough to potentially be within earshot of the jury, after Trump told his attorney that Carroll's allegation "really is a con job" and a "witch hunt," Crowley told the judge.

Carroll has been testifying under direct examination for hours Wednesday, telling jurors that her life was upended by Trump’s defamatory statements about her after she accused him in 2019 of raping her in the mid-1990s. 

Judge Kaplan also repeatedly admonished Habba during the proceeding, including during a testy exchange at the beginning of the day before the jury entered the courtroom. -The Messenger

Kaplan also told Habba to "sit down" after she requested an adjournment tomorrow so Trump could attend his mother-in-law's funeral - a request Kaplan had previously denied.

Wednesday's trial began after Trump denied Carroll's claim that he had raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Trump claimed he didn't know Carroll, and said that she only branded him as a rapist to boost sales of her memoir.

Carroll, 80, testified that Trump's lies destroyed her reputation for telling he truth, and is seeking $10 million on top of a May award of $5 million.

"I am here because Donald Trump assaulted me, and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened," Carroll said, adding "He lied, and it shattered my reputation."

She fought back tears when her lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, showed her a message from an unknown sender suggesting that she stick a gun in her mouth and pull the trigger.

"I was attacked on Twitter, I was attacked on Facebook, I was attacked on news blogs, I was brutally attacked in messages," Carroll said. "It was a new world."

Carroll said she now gets just eight letters a month from readers seeking advice, down from 200, and that the attacks haven't let up.

"Yesterday I opened up Twitter, and it said 'hey lady, you're a fraud,'" Carroll said. "Now I'm known as a liar, a fraud and a whack job."

Asked if she regretted speaking up, Carroll said: "Only momentarily. I am very glad I took action." -Reuters