THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK V. DONALD J. TRUMP NEW YORK — The judge in Donald Trump's hush-money trial cleared the courtroom of reporters Monday and then threatened to remove the defense's witness from the trial altogether because of his behavior on the stand, a court transcript later showed.

Judge Juan M. Merchan told Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor, that his conduct was "contemptuous right now." Costello aggravated Merchan repeatedly in his testimony by making comments under his breath and continuing to speak after objections were sustained — a signal to witnesses to stop talking.

At one point, Costello remarked "jeez" when he was cut off by an objection. He also called the whole exercise "ridiculous." "I'm putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous," Merchan said, according to the transcript of the conversation that occurred when the press was out of the room.

"If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand." Costello didn't return a message seeking comment Monday night. "The fact that I had to clear the courtroom and that the court officers, including the captain, had great difficulty clearing the courtroom, and that there was argument back and forth between the press and including counsel for the press, goes to why I had to clear the courtroom in the first place," Merchan told Costello.

"And that is, sir, your conduct is contemptuous right now." When he brought the press back in, Costello's testimony cont.