NEW YORK (NEWSnet/AP) — Former President Donald Trump abruptly walked out on closing arguments during a defamation trial Friday as a lawyer for E. Jean Carroll urged a jury to award her client at least $12 million damages.

Just minutes after attorney Roberta Kaplan began her closing argument in Manhattan federal court, Trump suddenly rose from his seat at the defense table and walked toward the exit, pausing to look over the packed courtroom as members of the Secret Service quickly stood to follow him out.

The unexpected departure prompted Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to speak up, briefly interrupting the closing argument to say: “The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom.”

The walkout came only minutes after the judge, without the jury present, threatened to send Trump attorney Alina Habba to jail for continuing to talk when he told her she was finished.

“You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup. Now sit down,” the judge told Habba, who immediately complied.

The closings occurred in the defamation case against Trump a day after he left the courtroom fuming that he hadn’t been given an opportunity to refute Carroll’s sexual abuse accusations.

The case is expected to go to the jury today.

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