Former U.S. President Donald Trump departs for his second civil trial after E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, outside a Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., January 26, 2024.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Donald Trump on Friday stalked out of a New York federal courtroom shortly after a lawyer for E. Jean Carroll in her closing argument at his sex defamation trial told jurors, “Donald J. Trump thinks the rules don’t apply to him.”
Trump’s dramatic departure came minutes after the judge in the case warned his lawyer she was risking being tossed into jail before closing arguments began at the trial, which determine how much the former president owes E. Jean Carroll in monetary damages for defaming her when she accused him of raping her in the mid-1990s.
“The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom,” said Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Earlier, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba, who had already irked Kaplan for showing up late in court, angered him when she persisted in arguing that defense lawyers should be able to show a slide to jurors during their summation that represented some tweets related to Carroll.
“You are not going to use a slide to represent how many tweets there were, you are not using that slide, period,” Kaplan said.
When Habba said, “I need to make a record,” referring to putting her argument on the record, the judge issued his warning.
“You are on the verge of spending time in the lockup, now sit down!,” the judge told Habba.
Before the arguments began and jurors entered the courtroom, Kaplan judge issued a warning.
“During closing arguments, no one is to say anything other than opposing counsel,” said Kaplan. “There are to be no interruptions or audible comments by anyone else and that will apply when I charge the jury and that will apply to counsel then as well.”
Carroll’s lawyers have complained during the trial about Trump making comments that were audible to jurors while sitting with his…
Read the full article here
