Trump Lawyer Joe Tacopina Throws Own Client Under the Bus to Judge: ‘You Understand What I’m Dealing With Here’
Joe Tacopina appeared to throw his client, former President Donald Trump, under the bus in a reported sidebar with Judge Lewis Kaplan during the ongoing E. Jean Carroll trial.
At issue are comments made by a vexed Trump who told assembled reporters on Thursday that he had to leave Ireland and Scotland early to return to New York to “confront” Carroll, who he called a “disgrace,” and Judge Kaplan, who he called “extremely hostile.”
When asked by a reporter if he planned to attend the trial, Trump affirmed and said, “I have to go back for a woman that made a false accusation about me, and I have a judge who is extremely hostile and I’m going to go back, and I’m going to confront this. But this woman is a disgrace, and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen in our country.” Tacopina repeatedly denied on Thursday that Trump would testify in the case.
Reporting for Law & Crime, Adam Kasfeld reported on a sidebar conversation between Tacopina and Kaplan:
“I know you understand what I am dealing with,” Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan during a sidebar conference on Thursday.
Trump’s remarks roiled his ongoing trial in a civil rape and defamation lawsuit brought by Carroll. The “Ask E. Jean” columnist claims that Trump sexually assaulted her inside a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s, then lied about it.
Tacopina, who also represents the former president in his Manhattan criminal case, repeatedly denied that Trump would testify. The conversation took place outside the earshot of the press and jury, but a courtroom stenographer was still typing away.
Just before Tacopina’s remark, Judge Kaplan made clear that he didn’t believe Tacopina was misleading him over his client’s decision.
“I’m not implying dishonesty on your part,” Kaplan told Tacopina, according to the transcript.
In the days before the trial started, Trump posted insults on social media that did not amuse Judge Lewis Kaplan, to say the least. Tacopina told the court he would “try to address” the public postings about the case “with my client.”
“Well, I hope you’re more successful,” Judge Kaplan responded. He continued that Trump “may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability. … And I think you know what I mean.”
