A federal judge issued another warning Thursday to Donald Trump's lead attorney, moments after she began her closing arguments in the second defamation trial brought by E. Jean Carroll — and just hours after the judge had threatened to incarcerate the former president's counsel.
In the wake of a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict, Trump and his legal team have been barred from arguing that the former president did not rape, slander, or libel the "Ask E. Jean" writer and columnist.
But Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba — who got proceedings off to an inauspicious start by arriving late to court — appeared to do just that shortly after her closing arguments began, defending her client's repeated denials over the years.
"You know why he has not wavered — because it’s the truth," Habba said.
That line prompted a furious objection from Carroll's lawyer, which senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sustained.
As Habba walked close to that line again, Kaplan warned: "If you violate my instructions again, Ms. Habba, there may be consequences."
Earlier in the day, before the jury entered the courtroom, Judge Kaplan told Habba that she could face jail time for insisting on challenging his orders well after he ruled.
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"You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup," Kaplan warned just hours earlier. "Sit down."
Carroll claims that she has faced a barrage of threats in the wake of Trump's insults and denials of sexually abusing her, but Habba ridiculed the messages.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I received three this week alone," Habba said. "That's me on a good day."
Kaplan struck that line, too, and his temper flared up again after Habba appeared to question Carroll's truthfulness. The judge reminded the jurors that "it is established" that Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll, who was not lying.
"It is established by a jury," Habba replied.
Kaplan snapped at the remark: "It is established and you will not quarrel with me. You will finish your statement."
Even Habba's description of free speech proved to be a landmine.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in our country, you have a constitutional right to speak," she said toward the end of her remarks, prompting another sustained objection.
"You have a constitutional right to do some kinds of speech and not others," Kaplan explained.
After Habba's presentation concluded, Carroll's attorney Shawn Crowley had one more opportunity to persuade the jury in rebuttal summations. She ridiculed the notion that Trump simply spoke his "truth," as Habba had suggested earlier.
"Ladies and gentlemen, his truth was a lie," Crowley said.
After her remarks conclude, the judge will deliver jury instructions and send the panel off for deliberations. Carroll's legal team asked them to award at least $12 million in reputational damages, $12 million for emotional harm, and an unspecified amount in punitive damages — one that they hinted should be enough to deter a billionaire.