Democracy Dies in Darkness

Judge threatens to throw Trump out of E. Jean Carroll defamation trial

The writer has sued former president Donald Trump for allegedly defaming her after she publicly accused him of sexual assault

Updated January 17, 2024 at 2:45 p.m. EST|Published January 17, 2024 at 12:58 p.m. EST
E. Jean Carroll arrives at Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)
5 min

NEW YORK — A federal judge threatened to throw Donald Trump out of court Wednesday after the former president defied an order to keep quiet during writer E. Jean Carroll’s testimony at his defamation trial, which resulted in Trump becoming combative with the jurist.

U. S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan addressed the former president after being told for the second time by Carroll’s lawyers that Trump, seated at the defense table, was denigrating Carroll loudly enough for the nine-member jury to have heard it. Trump had already received one warning from Kaplan, an official court order.