Within the first moments of being on the witness stand Thursday, Donald Trump broke the rules that Judge Lewis Kaplan had laid out for him to follow.
The first question from Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, was whether he denies the allegations against him by E. Jean Carroll, who claimed she was raped and defamed by the former president. He has already been found liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
He had been ordered not to deny what had already been proven.
But he responded: "I consider it a false accusation."
His answer was immediately stricken from the record.
"I just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency," Trump claimed.
E. Jean Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, no relation to the judge, asked about his Oct. 2022 deposition and meeting with Carroll. Habba objected, it was sustained.
Trump spoke for just three minutes in total.
ALSO READ: Alina Habba is persona non grata at her Pennsylvania law school
"This is high drama," said law professor Paul Butler on MSNBC. "This is why kids go to law school. As a law professor, let me say to my student, Alina Habba is a bad lawyer. Don't try this in a courtroom. Again, she asks one question, and then it goes to cross, and Roberta Kaplan, ladies and gentlemen, is a first-rate lawyer, and the reason why Trump's got to be concerned about images is she's asking for $10 million for the plaintiff, E. Jean Carroll, but Trump might want to remember what happened to his friend Rudy Giuliani."
Giuliani was recently hit with $148 million in damages after being found liable of defaming to Georgia election workers.
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It took 60 seconds for Trump to break the judge's rules on the standwww.youtube.com
