UPDATED 2:57 P.M.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s testimony in the writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case ended almost immediately after it began, as the former U.S. president stood by his earlier testimony that Carroll’s claim that he raped her was a hoax.
“100% yes,” Trump told his lawyer Alina Habba in federal court in Manhattan, when asked if his comments in an October 2022 deposition in Carroll’s case were accurate.
Earlier on Thursday, Carroll’s lawyers played videotaped excerpts from the deposition, in which Trump called the former Elle magazine advice columnist “mentally sick” and a “whack job,” and threatened to sue her.
“It’s a false accusation, never happened, never would happen,” Trump said in the deposition.
Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million over Trump’s June 2019 denials that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Last May, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after he denied her rape claim in October 2022.
Trump, 77, spent only four minutes on the witness stand after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has overseen both trials, said he would not allow “do-overs by disappointed litigants” and let Trump revisit the first jury’s findings.
That jury ruled that Trump defamed Carroll, and sexually abused her by inserting his fingers in her vagina, and the judge said those findings were binding in the second trial.
Kaplan struck much of what Trump said on the witness stand from the record, meaning that the seven-man, two-woman jury cannot consider it during deliberations.
Trump testified “yes I did” when his attorney Habba asked if he had publicly denied Carroll’s rape claim to defend himself, and “no” when Habba asked if he had intended to harm Carroll.
He then said he had “wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly the presidency,” but Kaplan told jurors to disregard this comment.
‘YOU ARE INTERRUPTING THESE PROCEEDINGS’
The judge, who is known for maintaining tight control in his courtroom, limited Trump’s testimony after overhearing Trump discuss Carroll, outside the jury’s presence.
“I wasn’t at the trial,” Trump said. “I don’t know who this woman is. I never met this woman.”
Kaplan cut him off. “I’m sorry, Mr. Trump, you are interrupting these proceedings by talking loudly,” the judge said.
The trial has lasted four days, and closing arguments are expected on Friday.
Jurors will consider only how much money Trump should pay Carroll, if any, for damaging her reputation, and whether he owes additional sums as punishment and to keep him from defaming her again.
A damages expert testified on Carroll’s behalf last week that the reputational damage from Trump’s 2019 comments could be as high as $12.1 million. Trump’s legal team has said damages should be nominal or zero.
Carroll’s case and the trial have become part of Trump’s campaign to retake the White House in the November election.
The Republican frontrunner has been shuttling between the courtroom and campaign stops while criticizing Carroll, the judge and the judicial process online and at press conferences.
CARROLL’S FRIEND TESTIFIES
Trump has accused Carroll of making up the rape to boost sales of her memoir.
His lawyers, meanwhile, have tried to show jurors that Carroll sought out and has enjoyed the fame and adulation from coming forward.
They have also said it was the publication of book excerpts in New York magazine, and not Trump’s subsequent comments, that caused people to brand Carroll a liar.
Carol Martin, a former New York TV news anchor and a close friend of Carroll, was the only other defense witness, with Trump’s lawyer Habba trying to show jurors that Carroll enjoyed her newfound fame.
Martin acknowledged having sent texts, after Carroll first accused Trump of rape, that described Carroll as being like “Santa at a Christmas parade” and “like a drug addict and the drug is herself,” but said she regretted using hyperbole.
“She is adapting to the change in her life,” Martin said. “‘Enjoying’ is a multifaceted word.”
Martin had testified on Carroll’s behalf at last year’s trial. Under questioning from one of her lawyers, Martin said she had no qualms about Carroll’s motives in coming forward.
“What she always wanted was to have her day in court,” Martin said.
Earlier on Thursday, Carroll’s lawyers wrapped up their case, with former Elle Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers testifying that she had viewed Carroll as a “truth-teller” whose empathy and sense of humor made her “so important” to the Elle brand.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Jonathan Oatis)
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NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump defended himself against the writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit claiming he should pay millions of dollars for defaming and sexually abusing her, testifying that he stood by his denials in a deposition.
The former U.S. president spent about four minutes on the witness stand after Carroll’s lawyers finished their case, and the judge rejected his bid to dismiss the civil lawsuit.
Trump said “100% yes” when asked if he stood by his testimony in an October 2022 deposition. His lawyers then rested their case, and closing statements are expected on Friday.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, is seeking at least $10 million over Trump’s June 2019 denials that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Last May, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after he denied her rape claim in October 2022.
Before Trump began testifying, Kaplan had narrowed the scope of what Trump would be allowed to say on the witness stand, saying he would not allow “do-overs by disappointed litigants.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Jonathan Oatis)
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NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump is expected to take the witness stand on Thursday after the writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawyers finished presenting evidence to convince a Manhattan jury that Trump owes her damages for having defamed and sexually abused her.
Carroll, 80, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, is seeking at least $10 million from Trump over his 2019 denials that he raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Trump, 77, has consistently denied wrongdoing, claiming he had not known Carroll despite photos showing them together, and accusing her of making up the rape to boost sales of her memoir.
Another witness is testifying for the defense before Trump’s expected testimony.
Last May, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after he denied her rape claim in October 2022.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has presided at both trials, has ruled that the first trial established that Trump defamed and sexually abused Carroll.
The only issues for the nine jurors in the current trial is how much money Trump should pay Carroll, if any, for damaging her reputation – and how much, if any, he should pay as punishment and to dissuade him from defaming her again.
A damages expert testified on Carroll’s behalf last week that the reputational damage could be as high as $12.1 million.
Carroll’s final witness, former Elle Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers, testified that she had viewed Carroll as a “truth-teller” whose empathy and sense of humor made her “so important” to the Elle brand.
Myers left Elle in 2017, and said under cross-examination by Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba that she did not know how Carroll’s reputation might have subsequently evolved.
Carroll’s lawyers also showed jurors excerpts from an October 2022 deposition, during which Trump stood by his denials of Carroll’s claims and branded her “mentally sick.”
Before Trump’s legal team began presenting his case, Kaplan denied Habba’s request that Trump be declared the victor because Carroll had not proven her case.
‘ANOTHER HOAX’
The trial has become an element of Trump’s third White House run, with the Republican frontrunner shuttling between the courtroom and campaign stops, while criticizing Carroll, the judge and the judicial process online and at press conferences.
He filed dozens of posts related to the case overnight to his Truth Social platform, maintaining that he had never heard of or touched Carroll and that her case was “Another HOAX.”
Trump’s legal team has said damages should be nominal or zero, and that Carroll has gained more than whatever she might have lost by pursuing and gaining her newfound fame.
Kaplan last week warned Trump not to use the courtroom to air political grievances, after one of Carroll’s lawyers complained that jurors might have overheard Trump calling the case a “witch hunt” and “con job.”
The judge has spent 29 years on the federal bench. He is known for his no-nonsense approach, and for expressing impatience with lawyers and witnesses who don’t follow his instructions.
Kaplan could interrupt or shut down Trump’s testimony, or throw him out of the courtroom, if Trump persisted in speaking out of turn, or digressed from the issues the jury will consider.
On Jan. 11, when another judge asked Trump if he could stick to the facts if allowed to give a closing statement in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case against him, Trump responded by attacking the judge and proclaiming the case a politically inspired sham.
Carroll’s lawyers have warned that Trump might try to “sow chaos” if he testified, because his defiance might aid him politically.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Jonathan Oatis)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump may go face-to-face with the writer E. Jean Carroll in open court on Thursday, to convince jurors he shouldn’t pay her any damages despite being liable for having defamed and sexually abused her.
Lawyers for Carroll are expected to wrap up their case in federal court in Manhattan, and Trump could testify in his own defense after they finish.
Carroll, 80, is suing over Trump’s June 2019 denials that he raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan. The former Elle magazine advice columnist is seeking at least $10 million.
Trump, 77, has consistently denied wrongdoing, claiming he had known Carroll despite photos showing them together, and accusing her of making up the rape to boost sales of her memoir.
The trial has become an element of Trump’s third White House run, with the Republican frontrunner shuttling between the courtroom and campaign stops, while criticizing Carroll, the judge and the judicial process online and at press conferences.
Jurors last heard testimony a week ago, before the trial was delayed because of COVID-19 concerns relating to a juror and one of Trump’s lawyers.
Last May, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after he denied her rape claim in October 2022.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has presided at both trials, has ruled that the first trial established that Trump defamed and sexually abused Carroll.
The only issues for the nine jurors in the current trial is how much money Trump should pay Carroll, if any, for damaging her reputation – and how much, if any, he should pay as punishment and to dissuade him from defaming her again.
A damages expert testified on Carroll’s behalf that the damage to her reputation could be as high as $12.1 million.
Trump’s legal team has said damages should be nominal or zero, and that Carroll has gained more than whatever she might have lost by pursuing and gaining her newfound game.
Kaplan last week warned Trump not to use the courtroom to air political grievances, after one of Carroll’s lawyers complained that jurors might have overheard Trump calling the case a “witch hunt” and “con job.”
The judge has spent 29 years on the federal bench. He is known for his no-nonsense approach, and for expressing impatience with lawyers and witnesses who don’t follow his instructions.
Kaplan could interrupt or shut down Trump’s testimony, or throw him out of the courtroom, if Trump persisted in speaking out of turn, or digressed from the issues the jury will consider.
On Jan. 11, when another judge asked Trump if he could stick to the facts if allowed to give a closing statement in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case against him, Trump responded by attacking the judge and proclaiming the case a politically inspired sham.
Carroll’s lawyers have warned that Trump might try to “sow chaos” if he testified, because his defiance might aid him politically.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Jonathan Oatis)
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