E. Jean Carroll defamation case: Judge denies Trump's motion for mistrial

Donald Trump has taken a seat in court, where jury selection in his defamation trial is scheduled to get underway this morning.

His decision to attend this trial is a clear shift for the former president, whose lawyers portrayed his absence from last year's defamation and battery trial as a service to New York City, saying the city would not have to suffer the "logistical and financial burdens" of Trump's attendance.

Carroll's attorneys, however, pounced on Trump's absence.

"He didn't even bother to show up here in person," attorney Roberta Kaplan told the jury.

Writing on social media last month, Trump blamed his absence at the trial on "not good advice" from his then-lawyer Joe Tacopina.

"I was asked by my lawyer not to attend--'It was beneath me, and they have no case.' That was not good advice," Trump wrote.

Trump attorney Alina Habba is serving as Trump's lead defense attorney for this week's trial.

E. Jean Carroll has arrived at the courthouse for the first day of the trial.

The former Elle magazine columnist smiled to reporters as she entered court.

Following his victory in Iowa, former President Trump landed at 3:30 a.m. in New York and just arrived at his civil defamation trial in lower Manhattan.

Trump is not required to attend the trial, though his decision not to attend last year's defamation and battery trial by the same plaintiff, writer E. Jean Carroll, was mocked by Carroll's attorney.

Trump's motorcade pulled up to the courthouse this morning at at 8:50 a.m. ET.

When Donald Trump's federal defamation trial gets underway in lower Manhattan this morning, it will be only about 11 hours since the former president claimed victory in the Iowa caucuses.

The trial is expected to take about a week, which could take Trump right to the doorstep of the New Hampshire Primary, scheduled for next Tuesday.

The former president did not attend last year's trial, held at the same courthouse, where a New York jury found him liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll and defaming her when he denied her accusation in a 2022 social media post.