Judge threatens Trump's attorney with jail time

Alright. We have breaking news, a lot is happening. Suddenly, into the closing arguments of the defamation damages trial against Donald Trump. Trump entered the courtroom late. He withdrew when the plaintiffs were presenting his closing arguments. At one point, the

judge

had to warn defense

attorney

s that they were about to be locked up. Let's go straight to CNN's Kara Scannell, who ran out of the courtroom to give us an explanation of what Kara was going through. What have you been watching? Yes John, an eventful day this morning to say the least. That had nothing to do even with the final arguments.

That's how it started, as you say, when Donald Trump's team was already late, which the

judge

warned when taking office. Then Donald Trump walked into the courtroom and they were still arguing before the jury came in over a slide that Trump's team wanted to use in his presentation. And Carol's lawyers said it included things that were not in evidence in the case. The judge said he was ruled out. That's when Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, stood up to challenge the judge's ruling. She has made it very clear throughout this trial, when he commands, he commands and that's it.

She began to challenge him. She reached her limit and said, you're about to spend some

time

in

jail

. Now sit down. Now, at this point, we were moving on to the final arguments. She brought herself to the jury. And Carol's team began their statements by telling the jury what this case was about, these statements that Donald Trump had made. And Carol's

attorney

, Roberta Kaplan, was specifically saying right now that Trump didn't respect the jury's verdict last year and she hasn't even respected it. She didn't even respect him for 24 hours, because that's when she went to the CNN town hall repeating the statements the jury had just found defamatory.

It was at that moment that Trump rose from his seat, stood, turned and abruptly left the courtroom. At that point, the judge interrupted Carol's attorney, saying, for the record, that the court reporter said that Donald Trump had just gotten up and left the courtroom, and then Carol's attorney continued with his closing arguments and in the arguments Ultimately, in the The merit of this case is to remind the jury that Trump is not above the law, that anyone should be held responsible for statements that anyone else would make. And so should Donald Trump. Additionally, they are asking the jury to award Carol more than $12 million in this case.

Don to Trump ever returned to Carol that you saw that Trump has not returned. One of her lawyers, Boris Epstein, who works with him on the campaign, returned to the courtroom at one point and was standing when the judge told her, calling him by his name, to sit down. Therefore, the judge will not allow any further interruptions in this case. And we haven't seen Donald Trump up here. We haven't seen the caravan leave either. So it looks like he's still in the courthouse, just not in the courtroom. So he's presumably somewhere inside the courtroom waiting for his attorneys to present his closing arguments.

Any idea when that will start? So Carol, it looks like they would last about an hour and they started a little late. So you probably have a little further to go. But then we do wait, Alina, for Trump's lawyer to make his final statement. They also estimate that it will be an hour and then the judge will give instructions to the jury. So I think we'll see if he comes back when his lawyer is giving statements. But what's so interesting, John, at the beginning of this, the judge said that he didn't want anyone, not the parties, not the individuals, not anyone in the courtroom to do anything to disrupt these closing arguments.

Well, let's see how it's gone so far. I mean, obviously, an eventful morning, as you say. It's great that you explain to us what you're seeing here, because I think that's what's developing, as the judge was hoping that Kara Scannell outside the courtroom would allow him back in. May you support us. I want to bring in former federal prosecutor Harry Litman to discuss this case with us. First, the judge literally threatened Trump's lawyers with

jail

time

, potentially because of their rule-breaking antics in court, not to mention his clients' antics in court. How could all this affect the jury?

Because in the end they are the ones who decide what those damages are going to be. And their lawyer has been very smart in showing them that they have the power. Only they have the responsibility. Now, the comment we just heard didn't happen in front of the jury, but he has improved it many times in front of the jury. And I just want to say about Trump's departure today, you know, it could be a surprise or a drama on television in real life in federal court. It's amazing. It just doesn't happen. And, of course, he oozes contempt for the entire process, for the plaintiff, for the jury.

It's almost calculated. First, it demonstrates the exact point that the lawyer was saying that he believes the rules don't apply to him. All. Everyone sits still and respectfully for a closing argument. And he's practically begging the jury to impose stratospheric punitive damages. I know you've been in a lot of courts, and I've certainly been in a lot of federal courts looking at cases. And I've never seen anything like it. Some people might say this is something that rhymes with a sketch show. But Carole's lawyer told jurors to decide what it would take to get Donald Trump to stop.

What do you think that's going to do when the jury hears that? And John just mentioned that it was something about what happened before, but also about what was happening at that moment. Good. And he has two parts. One, the absolute skill and evil of him repeating it over and over again. But here too, probably, factually, and ironically, inflated accounts of his wealth have been presented as evidence. So I don't know if there is a high enough calculator for what they might be thinking. You know, at the end of the day, you know, they'll be an issue in the appeal, whether maybe they went up too high, but I actually think they were completely given leeway.

But just sort of sober homework that could really make him stop. It's just money. So how high can you go?