Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

Washington: New York federal judge, Lewis Kaplan, issued a warning to former President Donald Trump during his trial on sex assault defamation claims by E. Jean Carroll. The judge threatened to kick Trump out of the court for making disruptive comments. Trump, however, responded saying, “I would love it.” To which Kaplan then responded, “I know you would because you just can’t control yourself in this circumstance.” The incident occurred as Carroll testified for the first time in Trump’s presence, with Trump allegedly making audible comments to the jurors, including the statement, “This really is a con job” and “it is a witch hunt.”

The federal judge had cautioned Trump to “keep his voice down.” “Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited, and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, and if he disregards court orders,” Kaplan was quoted as saying by CNBC after the seven-man, two-woman jury was excused for lunch at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Trump later blasted Kaplan in a post on his Truth Social site.

“I feel an obligation to be at every moment of this ridiculous trial because we have a seething and hostile Clinton-appointed Judge, Lewis Kaplan, who suffers from a major case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump wrote.

Before the trial began, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump’s comments about Carroll while he was president were defamatory, so the only issue for the jury to decide is how much money Trump should pay in damages, CNBC reported.

Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

Throughout the trial, Trump has continued to attack Carroll on social media, calling the case a “hoax” and hurling numerous other insults and allegations. On Wednesday, Carroll’s lawyers even introduced one of Trump’s posts from Tuesday into evidence to demonstrate Trump’s relentlessness.

This is Carroll’s second defamation trial against Trump. In May, she emerged victorious in the first trial, winning a $5 million verdict after a jury found Trump guilty of sexual assault and defamation. The case revolves around Carroll’s rape allegation against Trump, which she made public in 2019 through an excerpt from her book, ‘What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal,’ published by New York magazine.

The former president, Trump, who was in office at the time, denied all the allegation made by her. He claimed, “I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book – that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section.”