Trump counsel asks for mistrial and recusal in defamation case — both denied

Capping the first day of the defamation damages trial that will determine what amount Donald Trump will owe E. Jean Carroll for statements regarding her sexual assault allegations made in 2019, Trump’s legal team came away with a victory, if their goal was to irritate Judge Lewis Kaplan.

After hours of contentious back and forth that included Kaplan threatening to kick Trump out if he didn’t stop adding a running commentary from his seat in the court room, the judge also bobbed and weaved a request for recusal from Trump’s attorney Michael Madaio on the basis of “general hostility,” and one for a mistrial from Trump lawyer Alina Habba, who argued that Carroll admitted to deleting threatening messages, which would be part of her claim of damages, per reporting from CNN. In an epic rundown of the mistrial shoot and miss via @innercitypress on X (formerly Twitter), Kaplan not only denies Habba’s request, but asks the jury to disregard everything she said ramping up to it.

“This was an amazing Day of Trial,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after today’s session came to an end, weighing in on the above. “We learned that E. Jean Carroll is no ‘baby.’ She admitted on the stand to deleting massive amounts of evidence, under subpoena, which is a crime. Based on that alone, both this trial and the first trial should be immediately dismissed! Additionally, she first admitted to having a gun without a license, but then admitted to buying bullets for a rifle, not a handgun, which perhaps makes no sense. Her lawyers went crazy—and so did the Judge trying to protect her and this Complete and Total Election Interfering Witch Hunt!”