Judge Lewis Kaplan snapped at former President Donald Trump this week in a New York courtroom. He almost kicked the GOP 2024 presidential candidate frontrunner out.
What made the judge so mad?
According to an X post from CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, Trump could be heard making comments during a trial regarding the E. Jean Carroll defamation case this week.
“Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which what has been reported to me consists of,” said Kaplan. “And if he disregards court orders, Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial.”
However, the judge noted that being kicked out of the courtroom is probably just what the former president wanted.
Indeed, Trump said: “I would love it.”
“I know you would,” said Kaplan. “You just can’t control yourself in this circumstance apparently.”
This isn’t the first time that Trump has faced Kaplan in court. As of February 2022, presided over a hearing related to Carroll’s claims that Trump sexually abused her. Last May, a jury found that he did sexually abuse her.
By the time that hearing was held in early 2022, Kaplan had already ruled “that Trump could not use a law protecting federal employees from being sued individually for things they do within the scope of their employment,” per an Audacy report. He had also rejected a request by Trump’s attorneys to delay the progression of that lawsuit.
Kaplan said last June that “his arguments are without merit,” regarding Trump’s motion for summary judgement to dismiss damages sought by columnist E. Jean Carroll, for defamation on the grounds of presidential immunity.
Additionally, Kaplan isn’t the first judge that Trump has had a spat with. After U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya told Trump not to intimidate witnesses while he left court for the third of four indictments he faced last year, he promptly disregarded that warning and posted “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” on Truth Social.
CNN reported that court dates for the latest Carroll trial were done for the week as of Thursday and the trial is expected to resume Monday.