As Trump Treats Trials Like Rallies, Judges Study How to Rein Him In
Two weeks ago, a New York judge, Arthur Engoron, permitted Trump to personally deliver a closing argument in his civil fraud trial as long as he stuck to the facts and avoided a courtroom "Campaign speech." Trump bulldozed through the restrictions, repeated his familiar claim of a "Political witch hunt" and assailed the judge to his face.
What has made Trump's appearances challenging is that he may be making the calculation that disobeying a judge or perhaps even losing a legal argument could be politically advantageous.
In Carroll's defamation trial, Trump seemed almost to be goading Kaplan into throwing him out of the courtroom.
After his two recent confrontations with the judges, Trump held news conferences in front of cheering supporters in the lobby of his building at 40 Wall St. Standing before a row of American flags, he repeated his themes of personal persecution.
Kaplan already ruled Trump and his lawyers may not contest the jury's finding in May that Trump sexually abused Carroll or that his statements about her were defamatory.
If Trump is again disruptive or even removed from the courtroom, the trial should be able to continue, said Michael B. Mukasey, who was a Manhattan federal judge for nearly two decades.
One condition Engoron set appeared to be effective: He told Trump that if he attacked the judge's staff members - violating a gag order - he would be removed from the courtroom and fined at least $50,000.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-treats-trials-rallies-judges-152616094.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
justification for such a move.
But, as I keep getting reminded, I'm not a lawyer or a judge.
