Former U.S. Army prosecutor Glenn Kirschner on Tuesday highlighted a courtroom moment when the jury in E. Jean Carroll’s second trial against Donald Trump “sure did see” the former president for who he is.
Last week, a jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million for defamation.
Trump was last year ordered to pay Carroll $5 million after another jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll after she accused him of raping her in a New York department store in the 1990s.
“Is it a coincidence when he chooses not to appear, when the jury is not exposed to Donald Trump firsthand in the courtroom, they reward E. Jean Carroll $5 million [and] when he does appear they award E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million?” Kirschner asked on MSNBC.
Kirschner then pinpointed the moment that could have cost Trump dear, when he stormed out of the courtroom during closing arguments.
“When we think about the fact that every court in the land really in every jurisdiction has rules against disrupting the proceedings and as they were arguing to the jury that, ‘Donald Trump is a liar who seems to believe the rules don’t apply to him,’ what does he do? Jumps up and leaves court in a huff. Doing what? Disrupting the proceedings,” he said.
“You know, that’s a litigator’s dream when an opponent behaves like that,” Kirschner added. “I probably would have said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I would love to invite Mr. Trump back into the courtroom, slap an exhibit sticker in his head because he is exhibit 1, proving precisely the point we were arguing to you.’”
