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Donald Trump<\/strong> is currently on trial<\/a> in Manhattan for battery and defamation stemming from writer E. Jean Carroll<\/strong>\u2019s claim that he raped her in a department store in the mid-1990s. How\u2019s that working out for the ex-president? Not great, it would seem.<\/p>\n On Monday, Trump\u2018s lawyer, Joe Tacopina,<\/strong> requested<\/a> a mistrial be declared, claiming<\/a> that Judge Lewis Kaplan<\/strong> had made \u201cunfair and prejudicial\u201d rulings that revealed \u201ca deeper leaning towards one party over another,\u201d including comments where the judge \u201copenly expresses favoritism.\u201d Among other things, Tacopina claimed Kaplan must be biased because he shut down questions about why Carroll didn\u2018t scream when Trump was attacking her and allowed an objection over skepticism expressed about her claim that Bergdorf Goodman was relatively empty at the time. Tacopina\u2014who himself has had some interesting things to say about Trump in the past<\/a>\u2014also appeared to suggest that Kaplan is clearly on Carroll\u2019s side because the judge understood one of her literary references without having it explained.<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Just hours later, the request for a mistrial was denied.<\/p>\n The quick turn of events occurred days after Kaplan warned Tacopina that both Donald and Eric Trump<\/strong> were at risk of potential legal ramifications if they continued to disparage Carroll online. (Trump the elder, who previously called<\/a> Carroll a liar and claimed he could not have raped her because she wasn\u2019t his \u201ctype,\u201d wrote<\/a> on Truth Social on Wednesday that the author\u2019s lawsuit was a scam and her lawyer a \u201cpolitical operative.\u201d On Twitter, his son told<\/a> his followers that Carroll\u2019s \u201clegal battle\u2026is allegedly being FUNDED by political activist\u00a0Reid Hoffman<\/strong>\u00a0(co-founder of LinkedIn)\u201d and insisted that Hoffman is doing so \u201cout of pure hatred, spite or fear of a formidable candidate.\u201d) \u201cI said something this morning about your client perhaps now sailing in harm\u2019s way, conceivably with his son, if what I just heard is true,\u201d Kaplan told Tacopina, referencing the charges he said Trump could be hit with if he didn\u2019t stop defaming Carroll. \u201cIf I were in your shoes, I\u2019d be having a conversation with your client,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cthere are some relevant United States statutes here and somebody on your side ought to be thinking about them.\u201d (Eric Trump later deleted his tweet.)<\/p>\n For his part, Trump is not expected to appear in court for the trial. Previously, his lawyer had said<\/a> he would skip the proceedings out of concern for the inconvenience it would cause New Yorkers, which may or may not have been code for, \u201cI\u2019d like to go play golf.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nTwitter content<\/h4>\n