Judge loses patience with Trump lawyer in E. Jean Carroll sex assault defamation trial

A federal judge Thursday quickly lost patience with Donald Trump's lawyer as she grilled E. Jean Carroll on her income and social media history as part of the former president's civil defamation trial.

"Come on, this is Evidence 101!" said the judge, Lewis Kaplan, in response to defense lawyer Alina Habba's questions about how much money Carroll currently makes.

Kaplan also said Habba was being "repetitious" by reciting a long list of posts on X, formerly Twitter, attacking Carroll in 2019 shortly after she first publicly accused Trump of raping her decades earlier.

The trial in Manhattan federal court is being conducted to determine damages Carroll is owed by Trump for defamatory statements he made after she aired that rape claim.

Carroll also denied Habba's suggestion that her status and reputation may have improved in recent years. The author and columnist said she was suing Trump to get her old reputation back.

Kaplan's impatience with Habba's cross-examination came a day after Trump clashed with the the judge in open court.

Trump was absent from the courtroom for the second day of Carroll's testimony. Instead, he was in Palm Beach, Florida, to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs.

Kaplan had previously rejected a request by Trump's lawyer to delay the trial for a week so that Trump could go to the funeral without missing a day of testimony.

On Wednesday, Kaplan warned Trump that he could be kicked out of the courtroom for making "disruptive" outbursts during Carroll's testimony.

Trump, 77, shook his hands in the air and shot back, "I would love it."

The judge replied, "I know you would. You just can't control yourself in these circumstances, apparently."

The tense exchange came after an attorney for Carroll