Donald Trump swept out of his $250 million New York civil fraud trial on Wednesday, a move that apparently left his Secret Service detail scrambling to follow him and those who remained in the courtroom, including his own lawyers, stunned.
Trump’s dramatic exit was made as Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney, was testifying on the stand. Under cross-examination, Cohen denied that Trump had ever asked him to inflate numbers on his personal statement—standing by his 2019 congressional testimony.
Trump and one of his lawyers, Alina Habba, “threw up their arms” at this, according to CNN. Another Trump attorney then asked Judge Arthur Engoron for a directed verdict on the case, given Cohen’s status as a key witness.
No you wouldn’t unless you were already in jail. This is a civil trial, so you can just leave.
Now, in theory, leaving means that you forfeit your defense.
In practice, it seems like Trump didn’t even need to be there for Cohen’s testimony.