Donald J. Trump doesn’t change. Judges do.
Two weeks ago, a New York judge, Arthur F. Engoron, permitted Mr. Trump to personally deliver a closing argument in his civil fraud trial as long as he stuck to the facts and avoided a courtroom “campaign speech.” Mr. Trump bulldozed through the restrictions, repeated his familiar claim of a “political witch hunt” and assailed the judge to his face.
Then last week, after a lawyer down the street at the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial complained that Mr. Trump was grumbling “con job” and “witch hunt” loud enough for jurors to hear, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sternly warned him that, although he had the right to be present, “that right can be forfeited — and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive.”
Ms. Carroll’s lawyers did not find reason to complain again.
The judges’ different approaches to the tempestuous storm that entered their courtrooms — and the different results — could offer lessons beyond the two New York cases. They may provide guidance for the judges set to oversee Mr. Trump’s four potential criminal trials, who will want to keep the 45th president from transforming his legal proceedings into political spectacles.
“The thing you’ve got to do primarily is set rules and enforce them,” said John S. Martin Jr., a former U.S. District Court judge in Manhattan. “I think if the judge is tough and doesn’t back down, Trump will back down.”
Mr. Trump, 77, often finds himself in courtrooms these days, alternating those appearances with campaign stops — and using both for political purposes as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination. On Tuesday, after attending jury selection in Ms. Carroll’s trial, he flew to New Hampshire to begin campaigning. He then returned to court on Wednesday, when she testified, before heading back to New Hampshire.
Judges regularly confront defendants who are powerful public figures, like politicians or chief executives, who are used to dominating a room.
But judges, particularly those in federal court who enjoy lifetime tenure, do not easily surrender their authority. Typically, threats of financial sanctions, contempt or even short jail sentences can calm the most unruly of courtroom disrupters.
What has made Mr. Trump’s appearances challenging is that he may be making the calculation that disobeying a judge or perhaps even losing a legal argument could be politically advantageous. In Ms. Carroll’s defamation trial, Mr. Trump seemed almost to be goading Judge Kaplan into throwing him out of the courtroom.
After his two recent confrontations with the judges, Mr. Trump held news conferences before cheering supporters in the lobby of his building at 40 Wall Street. Standing before a row of American flags, he repeated his themes of personal persecution. He called the state attorney general, Letitia James, who had sued him in the civil fraud case, “deranged” and “a political hack.” A week later, he labeled Judge Kaplan “a Trump-hating guy,” and brushed aside Ms. Carroll’s claims. “I, frankly, am the one that suffered damages,” he said.
Both of Mr. Trump’s Manhattan trials are still pending. There is no jury in Ms. James’s civil fraud case in New York State Supreme Court; Justice Engoron’s ruling on whether Mr. Trump and his company are liable for a $370 million penalty being sought by the state is expected toward the end of this month.
Ms. Carroll’s defamation trial is being heard by a nine-person jury in Federal District Court, with Judge Kaplan overseeing the proceedings. The only issue is how much money, if any, Mr. Trump must pay Ms. Carroll, 80, for defaming her after she accused him in 2019 of sexually abusing her decades before, and for his persistent attacks in statements and social media.
Testimony is expected to continue through at least Monday, when the former president has indicated he might testify.
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