REUTERS/Andrew Kelly; Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
- The judge in E. Jean Carroll's second defamation trial threatened to kick Trump out of court.
- The threat came after he told Trump to "keep his voice down" during the proceedings.
- Carroll's lawyer complained that Trump was disparaging Carroll while she was testifying.
The judge overseeing the second E. Jean Carroll defamation trial against former President Donald Trump threatened to kick Trump out of court if he kept disparaging Carroll to his attorneys while the trial was underway.
"Mr. Trump has the right to be here," Judge Lewis Kaplan said Wednesday, adding "that right can be forfeited" if he's disruptive and "if he disregards" court orders.
"Mr. Trump, I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial," Kaplan later said.
Kaplan's comments came after he told Trump earlier in the day to "keep his voice down."
Carroll's lawyer, Shawn Crowley, had complained before the morning break to Kaplan that she could hear Trump insulting Carroll while she was testifying.
"Mr. Trump has been loudly saying things, including that the witness is lying and noting that she has suddenly got her memory back," Crowley told Kaplan after jurors were released from the room. "It's loud enough that some of us here are hearing it."
Kaplan chided Trump after the morning break — but before the jury was brought back in.
"I'm going to ask Mr. Trump to take special care to keep his voice down in conferring with his attorneys," Kaplan said.
But Trump continued slamming Carroll even after the warning, prompting Crowley to tell Kaplan before the lunch break that she could still hear him disparaging Carroll during testimony.
Kaplan then threatened to boot Trump from the room.
"Mr. Trump, I know you would like me to do that," he said. "I know you would. You just can't control yourself in this circumstance apparently."
Kaplan had previously issued warnings to keep the proceedings from getting out of hand, telling both sides on Tuesday not to communicate with the jury "directly or indirectly."
Trump was found liable last year in a separate trial for sexually abusing Carroll in the mid-1990s and defaming her in 2022 when he accused her of lying about the assault.
He was ordered to pay her $5 million in damages.
Based on that first verdict, Kaplan in September found Trump liable in a second case for defaming Carroll in 2019 when he similarly accused her of lying. Wednesday's trial centered on whether Trump would have to pay additional damages to the former magazine columnist.
Carroll's attorney urged jurors in opening arguments Tuesday to impose additional damages on Trump for the harm he caused her with his statements.
Crowley didn't specify a dollar figure, but she asked that the number be big enough to "make him stop."
"How much money will it take to make him stop?" she said. "Because he hasn't stopped."
Her opening statements came after Trump's Truth Social account blasted out a series of posts attacking Carroll while he was sitting in the courtroom with her, again calling her a liar.