A federal judge threatened to kick Donald Trump out of court Wednesday after the former president made repeated comments within earshot of the jury hearing a civil defamation trial against him.

Trump muttered that the case is a “witch hunt,” among other similar comments, according to a lawyer for the writer E. Jean Carroll, who is suing Trump over derogatory comments he made about her while he was president.

The episode prompted a stern rebuke from U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who repeatedly tussled with Trump and his lawyers during a testy courtroom session Wednesday morning.

“Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited, and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which is what has been reported to me,” the judge said.

  • @grue
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    115 months ago

    That’s why it’s important for them to put him in a holding cell instead of letting him pontificate to the media on the courthouse steps.

    • FuglyDuck
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      5 months ago

      Well, that and the whole the fucker incited an insurrection, and has promised to do it again,

      • @grue
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        5 months ago

        No, that’s why it’s important to put him in a prison cell (or, you know, do what the Constitution actually prescribes as the penalty for treason), which is a bit of a separate issue. Really what needs to happen is first one, then the other.

        • FuglyDuck
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          35 months ago

          jail, until the due process works out to a conviction, then prison while waiting for a more permanent solution?

          I don’t normally go in for capital punishment- it’s barbaric. but, eh, there are exceptions.

          • @grue
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            35 months ago

            Precisely.

    • @[email protected]
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      35 months ago

      On the other hand, discount Hitler would like nothing better than to publish a ghost-written manifesto from jail