At the trial this week handling the question of financial penalties on former President Donald Trump for allegations from writer E. Jean Carroll of defamation, presiding Judge Lewis Kaplan ended up demanding that Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba retake her seat after she tried pushing for a delay.
Habba wanted a delay for the ostensible purpose of Trump attending the funeral of his recently deceased mother-in-law. In an original request, Trump’s team had sought to push back the trial’s start date by a week, which spurred some suspicions that the ex-president was trying to use his mother-in-law’s death to reach farther than would be appropriate. Kaplan denied the request to delay trial, noting that the ex-president was under no obligation to attend the proceedings, as was the case for the first trial on claims from Carroll against Trump.
Habba wasn’t through. As recapped on X (formerly Twitter) by journalist Erica Orden, Kaplan confronted Habba after she continued to push the idea of placing trial proceedings on hold. “The application is denied. I will hear no further argument on it,” Kaplan said, adding after Habba kept pushing: “None. Do you understand that word? Sit down.” Habba tried another time to push the idea, leading Kaplan to again direct that she be seated. Court proceedings very quickly moved to testimony by Carroll, with Orden announcing its start merely a few minutes later.
Though Trump’s presence wasn’t necessary, he was, in fact, there again in the New York courtroom early on Wednesday. Earlier in proceedings, amid the finalization of jury selection, Kaplan notably asserted that the finding that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll is already established (in a civil context specifically). Though an earlier jury didn’t find Trump liable for rape, they did hold Trump liable for related acts, and their conclusion on “rape” has been tied to merely falling short of technical definitions under legal rules in New York.
