“Your client was uttering something in the direction of the juror,” Merchan said to Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche. “I won’t tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear. Take a minute with your client.”

While the court proceeding quickly moved on as lawyers continued to debate the merits of knocking potential jurors off the panel, the brief lashing showed how the judge continues to wrestle with a former president whose courtroom behavior shows undeniable contempt for the nation’s justice system.
Trump was similarly ordered to stop talking by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan during a two-week rape defamation trial in January, where Trump would regularly mutter angry misgivings from the defense table just feet from the jury. In that case, the judge forcefully ordered defense lawyer Alina Habba to restrain her client—or have him ejected from the courtroom.