Testy encounters between lawyers and judges a defining feature of Trump’s court cases so far

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was threatened with expulsion from a courtroom last week by a judge angry over the former president’s behavior in a defamation case brought by a writer who accuses him of sexual abuse.

His lawyer didn’t fare much better.

Attorney Alina Habba was ordered to “sit down” after continuing in vain to press a point that the judge had rejected, prompting the lawyer to respond: “I don’t like to be spoken to that way, your Honor.” She was later rebuked for sitting instead of standing while addressing the court and chided the following day over how to properly question a witness. “Evidence 101,” tsk-tsked Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

The testy clashes have come to be expected as Trump’s lawyers carry into the courtroom the bombastic, and often antagonistic, style that defines his campaign trail demeanor. In arguments that seem to cater more to the client than to the court, Trump’s attorneys have repeatedly invoked his front-runner status in the presidential race despite its questionable relevance, echoed his claims of prosecutorial bias and political persecution and advanced sweeping theories of legal immunity before skeptical judges.

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