As writer E. Jean Carroll's civil defamation trial against former President Donald Trump continued in the courtroom on Wednesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan warned Trump attorney Alina Habba off her attempted line of questioning about Carroll's firearm ownership, reported Inner City Press' Matthew Russell Lee — one of many questions apparently intended to undermine Carroll's character to the jury.
"You have a gun," said Habba. "Do you have a license?" Carroll replied that she did not.
"Are you aware that you have to have a license—" Habba began.
"Don't even start," cut in Judge Kaplan.
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"Do you have bullets for the gun?" Habba asked. "You live in this state?" Carroll answered in the affirmative to both.
This comes as Habba has triggered courtroom drama throughout the proceedings, with Kaplan at one point being forced to instruct her to "sit down" after she became argumentative while advocating Trump be given time off from the trial to attend a funeral. Trump himself also caused fireworks in the courtroom, to the point where Kaplan threatened to expel him from the proceedings over his behavior.
Carroll has alleged that the former president raped her in a New York City department store in the 1990s. Trump repeatedly denied ever knowing who she was and suggested that she made up the claim to get famous, which resulted in a $5 million judgment against him for sexual abuse and defamation. The current trial is purely about assessing damages in Carroll's claim.