Carroll's legal team on Friday questioned whether Trump can even testify — and showed his five-minute courtroom tirade in his fraud case to argue he wants to 'sow chaos'

Writer E. Jean Carroll's attorney warned a federal judge on Friday that Donald Trump may seek to "sow chaos," asking the court to lay down ground rules keeping the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner from turning his upcoming second trial into a "circus."

"Indeed, he may well perceive a benefit in seeking to poison these proceedings, where the only question for the jury is how much more he will have to pay in damages for defaming Ms. Carroll," the writer's lead attorney Roberta Kaplan wrote in a four-page letter on Friday. "This Court should made clear from the outset that Mr. Trump is forbidden from engaging in such antics and will suffer consequences if he does so."

As an exhibit to the letter, Carroll's legal team showed the judge a transcript Trump's five-minute courtroom tirade during closing arguments of his civil fraud trial as evidence that the former president wants to use federal court as a forum for a "similar performance."

"It takes little imagination to think that Mr. Trump is gearing up for a similar performance here—only this time, in front of a jury," Kaplan added. "Indeed, as noted above, Mr. Trump promised a second round of this same scenario in his remarks to the press just yesterday."

Trump was not expected to deliver closing remarks in his civil fraud case because he refused to agree to the ground rules imposed by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron. Carroll's lawyers note that Trump did not wait for Engoron's permission before launching into his courtroom "soliloquy."

In a separate trial last May, another federal jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s — and then defamed her by lying about it.

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images; KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll's attorney, found that the second trial will only be on damages for other defamatory remarks.

In light of that ruling, Carroll's lawyers argued questioned whether Trump could even testify at trial.

"In fact, it is not clear, at least to us, what Mr. Trump could permissibly testify to given these limitations," they wrote in the letter. "There is no basis for Mr. Trump to offer lay opinion testimony about the harm that Ms. Carroll has experienced."

They note that Trump cannot re-litigate the factual issues from the first trial.

"Mr. Trump cannot testify that he did not sexually assault Ms. Carroll," the letter says. "He cannot claim that he did not rape her, or did not know her, or had never seen her before. He cannot question or attack her motives for revealing that he had assaulted her. He cannot say that he was defending himself from a false accusation."

In light of those constraints, Trump could "theoretically offer testimony about their lack of wealth in the hope of minimizing a punitive damages award," Carroll's lawyers note.

But they point out such a defense would be unlikely because it would "run headlong into Mr. Trump’s sworn testimony and public statements elsewhere."

At Thursday's press conference, Trump told reporters: "I’m going to go to [the Carroll v. Trump trial], and I’m going to explain I don’t know who the hell she is,” a contention that a previous federal jury rejected.

Carroll wants the judge to set the guidelines governing Trump's attendance at trial and warn him of the consequences of violating those rulings.

Her legal team wants a ruling forcing Trump to state under oath, outside the jury's presence, that "he understands that it is established for purposes of the trial that he sexually assaulted Ms. Carroll, and that he spoke falsely with actual malice and lied when accusing her of fabricating her account and impugning her motives."

In addition, Carroll wants Trump to declare that he "understands and accepts all of the limits that the Court has imposed on his testimonyin this action and will conduct himself in the courtroom in accordance with those limitations."

If Trump violates those conditions, Carroll's attorneys propose holding him in contempt, issuing punitive fines, or referring his attorneys for professional discipline.

Trial is expected to begin on Tuesday morning.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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E. Jean Carroll Wants Judge to Stop Trump From Turning Trial Into a ‘Circus’