Judge warns courtroom to be silent during closings
Before the jury was brought into the courtroom, Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a warning to all present prior to the start of closing arguments.
"No one in the courtroom is to say anything except for opposing counsel to say objection," the judge said. "No audible comments by anybody else."
Kaplan did not direct the warning at anyone in particular, but earlier in the trial he threatened to boot Trump from courtroom after the former president made comments that the jury could hear.
Before the jury entered, the defense asked permission to show the jury tweets from 2019 that Twitter users had written about E. Jean Carroll prior to Trump's defamatory statements denying her assault claim. Earlier, Trump's attorneys had argued that Trump wasn't responsible for the online attacks on Carroll, because she was already being attacked before Trump issued his denial.
The judge did not allow the defense to display the additional tweets.
When Trump attorney Alina Habba attempted to press ahead with her argument, Kaplan interrupted.
"You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup -- now sit down," Kaplan boomed.
