Ex-White House lawyer Ty Cobb weighs in on E. Jean Carroll trial: ‘This is Trump at his worst’

Former White House attorney Ty Cobb is sharply criticizing former President Trump for his courtroom behavior during his defamation trial regarding E. Jean Carroll, who accuses Trump of raping her in the 1990s.

“This is Trump at his worst, and I don’t think we’re going to see anything much different between now and November,” Cobb said in an interview on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Trump was reprimanded by a New York federal judge for being “disruptive” during a trial proceeding to determine how much he owes the magazine writer for defaming her by denying her rape claims.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan threatened to kick Trump out of his courtroom after he repeatedly made comments about the case to his lawyer at a volume audible to jurors and disregarded orders for him to stop. He reportedly said that Carroll was lying about the assault and called the trial a “witch hunt” and “con job.”

A jury previously found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation against Carroll but did not find sufficient evidence to prove he raped her. Trump has denied wrongdoing.

“Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which what has been reported to me consists of. And if he disregards court orders, Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial,” Kaplan said in the courtroom on Wednesday.

“I understand you’re probably eager for me to do that,” he continued.

“I would love it,” Trump replied.

“I know you would,” Kaplan retorted. “You just can’t control yourself in this circumstance, apparently.”

“You can’t either,” Trump said, according to The Associated Press.

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Cobb, in the interview, said Trump was only in court “to create a political narrative,” noting he declined to testify in the previous trial, which addressed the facts in the sexual assault case. This case focused only on damages.

“He’s just there for the show and the free publicity because, you know, Trump personifies the adage that there is no bad publicity. If they’re talking about you, you’re winning,” he said.

Cobb, who served in Trump’s White House, added that “his name-calling is characteristic,” saying the former president has gone from “name-calling the judge, to name-calling Nikki Haley,” one of his rivals for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

“His continued lying about the sexual assault, even though a jury has already found him [liable] — is very much akin to his still lying about the election being stolen,” Cobb said.

He praised the judge in the case and said his frustration was understandable — both at Trump and at his lawyers.

“He’s a well-seasoned judge. He’s handled many, many cases that are a much heavier lift for a judge than this particular case. I mean, he’s handled terrorism cases, mob cases, he just handled the Sam Bankman-Fried case,” Cobb said.

“This is a very serious judge who believes that lawyers should understand that it’s a privilege to be a lawyer, and that they need to follow the rules and that their duty is to help things proceed honorably and fairly and expeditiously,” he continued. “I think his frustration with Trump is understandable. But I think he’s actually probably equally if not more frustrated with Trump’s lawyers, who did some shocking things in the courtroom today.”