E. Jean Carroll's lawyer had been in the middle of telling jurors that Trump acts like he's above the law when the former president walked out

Donald Trump stormed out of a federal courtroom on Friday in the middle of closing arguments, as E. Jean Carroll's lead attorney thundered to jurors that the former president acts like he's above the law.

"Donald Trump, however, acts as if these rules or law just don’t apply to him," lawyer Roberta Kaplan said.

In a separate trial last spring, a different federal jury in the Southern District of New York found that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s — and then defamed her by insulting her when she came forward decades later. The jury unanimously awarded Carroll a $5 million judgment, in a landmark ruling that’s now under appeal.

But Carroll's lawyers noted that didn't stop Trump.

“No, not at all," Kaplan said. "Not even for 24 hours.”

Shortly after, Trump stood up from the defense table and walked deliberately out of the courtroom. Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan noted his exit for the record.

"The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom," Kaplan declared.

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The judge then instructed Trump's attorneys at the defense table — and his associates in the gallery — to remain seated. That included Trump's longtime advisor Boris Epshteyn, who left the courtroom with the former president. When Epshteyn returned, Kaplan informed him that the order also applied to him.

Former US President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower for Manhattan federal court to attend his defamation trial in New York on January 26, 2024.

Before trial began, Judge Kaplan ruled before trial that the prior verdict resolved all factual disputes, and the only remaining controversy remaining for the jury was to decide how much in additional damages to award.

Earlier in the trial, Carroll's legal team called Northwestern University marketing professor Ashlee Humphreys for these calculations. She cited ex-New York City mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's defamation of Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman as a guide for how much would be needed to repair Carroll's reputation. Carroll wants Trump to pay between $7 to $12.1 million for this category alone.

But Carroll's team argues that's far from the only category of damages needed. A separate award is needed, they say, for Carroll's pain and suffering from a fusillade of threats she faced from Trump attacking her from the world's biggest megaphone.

Showing the jury some threatening tweets, Carroll's lawyer displayed some of the ugly and profane messags: "You are a c***," one said. "Shut the f*** up lying whore," jeered another. "No way Mr. Trump touched this mess," one user said.

Trump's legal team downplayed these as "mean tweets," but Carroll's lawyer said they were much more serious.

"Imagine knowing all of these people hate you," Kaplan said. "All of them want you to be raped or killed."

The lawyer asked for at least $12 million for such emotional harm, but she would not cite a figure for punitive damages, except to say that it would have to be enough to send a message to a recalcitrant billionaire. On Thursday, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "I’ve said it once & I’ll say it again, a thousand times," before tearing into Carroll again.

Displaying that post, Kaplan told jurors that the former president would keep attacking her client: "unless you make him stop."

"It will take an unusually high punitive damages award to stop Donald Trump," she said.

Trump's attorneys will deliver closing arguments later in the morning.

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Trump Storms Out of Court After E. Jean Carroll’s Lawyer Tells Jurors He Acts as if Rules ‘Don’t Apply to Him’