He testified for under three minutes. But former President Donald Trump still broke a judge’s rules on what he could tell a jury about writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual assault and defamation allegations, and he left the courtroom Thursday bristling to the spectators: “This is not America.”

Testifying in his own defense in the defamation trial, Trump didn’t look at the jury during his short, heavily negotiated stint on the witness stand. Because of the complex legal context of the case, the judge limited his lawyers to asking a handful of short questions, each of which could be answered yes or no — such as whether he’d made his negative statements in response to an accusation and didn’t intend anyone to harm Carroll.

But Trump nudged past those limits.

    • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      That would have led to a mistrial, and further served to delay justice. What Judge Kaplan did was absolutely the right thing, and in the best interest of all parties involved.

      • andrewta@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        stupid question here : why would it have led to a mistrial? if he is the one on trial and he starts running his mouth, its words directly from him. so they can absolutely be used against him (since he said them in court). if he sits there and makes claims (for example) “i was in hawaii at the time” and there are plenty of records to prove he wasn’t in hawaii… that can be used against him … he knows he is under oath and he freely gave the testimony … so it can’t be argued that he was coerced into giving the information…

        again… i say stupid question because i’m sure there is a way that it could lead to a mistrial , i just don’t know what it is.