Former U.S. President Donald Trump, fresh off a victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary, is back in a New York courtroom on Thursday to contest writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him.
Trump, the likely 2024 Republican nominee to run against Democratic President Joe Biden in the November presidential election, has denied even knowing Carroll, now 80, and has said she was not “my type.”
Trump said he wants to testify in the case, but U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan has already ruled that the only issue for the nine-member jury is to decide whether Carroll is entitled to damages. She is seeking $10 million or more.
Before the civil trial started, Kaplan ruled that a jury in a related case last year had already determined that Trump sexually abused the former advice columnist for Elle magazine in a dressing room of the posh Bergdorf Goodman department store and that its decision on her abuse allegation carries over to the current case. That jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million.
If Trump takes the witness stand, it is not clear what he might say if he cannot dispute her account of the attack. Trump has often done so in social media posts and at campaign rallies.
The case last year stemmed from Trump’s disparagement of Carroll in 2022 comments, while the case set to be decided now dates to comments he made in 2019 while he was president, just after Carroll published a book in which she recounted her accusations.
Trump said then that Carroll was “totally lying” and offered his assessment that he could not have raped her because she was not “my type.”
Carroll testified last week, “It means I’m too ugly to assault.”
Trump, 77, has attended much of the trial, even though he is not required to be present in the courtroom. He has treated the case like a campaign stop, holding news conferences at the end of the day to attack Carroll’s claims and Kaplan as biased against him.
“They are weaponizing law enforcement at a level like never before,” Trump said Sunday night at a New Hampshire rally, adding, “You know where I’m going to be. I don’t have to be there, but I want to be there because otherwise, I can’t get a fair shake. I’m going to be in court.”
The Carroll defamation claims are in a civil case, and Trump faces no threat of imprisonment. But he does face an unprecedented 91 criminal charges across four indictments in cases that could go to trial this year.
As Carroll testified last week, her attorneys complained to Kaplan that Trump was making disparaging side comments about her to his lawyers that the jury, seated fewer than four meters away, could possibly hear.
The complaints by Carroll’s lawyers led to a contentious exchange between Trump and the judge.
Kaplan told Trump that his right to be at the trial would be revoked if he continued to ignore warnings to keep his comments to his lawyers quieter and out of earshot of the jury.
But after an initial warning, Carroll's lawyer said Trump could still be heard making remarks to his lawyers, including, "It is a witch hunt" and, "It really is a con job."
After excusing the jury for lunch, Kaplan told Trump, “I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial. I understand you're probably eager for me to do that."
"I would love it," Trump shot back, shrugging as he sat at the defense table between his lawyers Alina Habba and Michael Madaio.
"I know you would like it. You just can't control yourself in this circumstance, apparently," Kaplan responded.
"You can't either," Trump muttered.
As Trump watched, Carroll told the jurors, "I'm here because Donald Trump assaulted me, and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened. He lied and shattered my reputation.”
Once, Carroll testified, she was a respected advice columnist. "Now, I'm known as the liar, the fraud and the whack job."
Trump made repeated disparaging comments about Carroll on his Truth Social platform in the days leading up to the trial.
Carroll testified last week, "He has continued to lie. He lied last month. He lied on Sunday. He lied yesterday."
