Legal expert demolishes Alina Habba's claim about 'insanely prejudicial' Trump trial judge

Former President Donald Trump's attorney Alina Habba got into a fight with New York Judge Lewis Kaplan when he refused to grant the former president a continuance in the E. Jean Carroll trial to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, saying, "My client and I would like to reiterate that [Carroll] can sit here every day and she did not have death in her family and it is insanely prejudicial."

But it actually isn't, wrote MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang on Thursday.

"Let’s be clear: Courtroom 21B in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in downtown New York is Judge Kaplan’s domain, over which he exercises control," wrote Phang. "It is certainly not Trump’s playground upon which Trump can be the big bully trying to intimidate E. Jean Carroll or where Trump can try to play fast and loose with the rules of decorum."

"In avoidance of confusion, it is not 'insanely prejudicial,' either legally or otherwise, to deny Trump a trial continuance to be with his family following his mother-in-law’s death," wrote Phang. "Kaplan clearly considered any appellate issues, as well as any 'kindness' issues, when ruling that Trump’s latest request would be denied as evidenced by Kaplan’s recitation into the record as to what the legal standard is for Trump’s attendance in court. And in further avoidance of confusion, there is no 'kindness' standard in the law when considering a trial continuance."

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Trump has a right to either attend the trial or to send his attorney in his absence, wrote Phang, but he "does not have the right to stop the proceedings so everyone can accommodate his schedule." At the end of the day, she concluded, "Expect to see more firm and strict handling of Habba and Trump by Kaplan, which could include holding Trump in contempt of court and having him forcibly removed from the courtroom."

Carroll alleges that Trump raped her in a department store in New York City in the late 1990s, and a previous jury already found him liable for sexual abuse, as well as defamation for his claims that Carroll was lying to advance her career. The current trial is solely about determining additional damages awards.