Testifying at his New York fraud trial, the former president was repeatedly admonished to stick to answering the questions.
The judge in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial repeatedly interrupted the former president’s historic — and at times rambling — testimony on Monday.
During heated exchanges that included the former president railing about the Democratic plot against him, the judge begged Trump’s lawyers to control him.
“I beseech you to control him if you can. If you can’t, I will,” the judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, said just 40 minutes into Trump’s testimony.
Trump began testifying at 10 a.m., and within 15 minutes, his wide-ranging answers — invoking George Washington, his great book sales, and criticisms of the Democratic party’s “weaponization” of cases against him — prompted the judge to interrupt.
“No speeches,” the judge told him, calmly at first. “This is not a political rally.”
Within a half hour, the judge asked Trump’s lead lawyer, Christopher Kise, for the first of three times to control him.
When defense lawyer Alina Habba told the judge that, in presiding over the trial, it’s his job to hear what the witness has to say, the judge shouted in response.
“No, I’m not here to hear what he has to say,” he told Habba. “I’m here to hear him answer questions,” he said. “Just questions and answers.”
“This is a very, very unfair trial,” Trump himself chimed in at that point. “Very. Very. And I hope the public is watching.”
“Stricken! Stricken!” the judge cut in at another point in the morning, after another non-responsive answer from the former president.
