Former President Donald Trump told the anti-Trump judge overseeing the E. Jean Carroll trial that he would “love it” if the judge threw him out of the courtroom.
The penalty phase of Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll’s civil case against Trump kicked off this week, just as Trump comes off a historic victory in the Iowa caucuses, besting his closest rival by nearly 30 percentage points. But on Wednesday, things got heated in the courtroom after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan essentially threatened to throw Trump out of the courtroom.
“Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial. I understand you are probably very eager for me to do that,” Kaplan said, according to reports.
“I would love it,” Trump responded. “I would love it.”
“I know you would because you just can’t control yourself in this circumstance,” Kaplan reportedly told the former president, who shot back, “You can’t either.”
The Messenger provided context to the exchange, explaining that “the warning from the judge came after Shawn Crowley, an attorney for plaintiff E. Jean Carroll, raised the issue of Trump speaking loudly enough to potentially be in earshot of the jury.”
In September, U.S. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled that Trump defamed Carroll — who accused Trump of groping and raping her in a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s — in 2019 when he denied that he raped her.
In this courtroom sketch, E. Jean Carroll, right, turns around towards former President Donald Trump, seated left, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)
As Breitbart News detailed:
Carroll could not remember the year of the alleged assault, and there were no witnesses to back her claims. But because the jury decided Trump was liable for sexual battery and defaming Carroll, Kaplan deemed Trump’s remarks to be defamatory. The jury awarded her $5 million in damages. The second lawsuit, however, stems from comments Trump made in 2019.
It should be noted that Carroll is backed by both Democrat activists as well as billionaire mega-donor Reid Hoffman, who has given money to a pro-Haley PAC in hopes of quashing the MAGA movement. He has openly admitted that he would “spend as much as I possibly can and it takes and is effective [to beat Trump].”