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

Trump attorney Alina Habba, in her closing argument, questioned the sincerity of E. Jean Carroll's claims of emotional and professional harm and accused her of trying to pin the comments of Twitter trolls on a president of the United States.

"Ms. Carroll has failed to show she is entitled to any damages at all," Habba said.

Habba attempted to suggest that Donald Trump could not defend himself and that Carroll had paid for a lawyer for her friend Carol Martin, who testified as a hostile witness for the defense -- but Carroll's attorneys objected and Judge Lewis Kaplan sustained the objection.

"If you violate my instructions again, Ms. Habba, there could be consequences," the judge warned.

Habba said that Carroll failed to prove causation, slowly annunciating the word loudly into the microphone.

"They have to prove a direct causal connection between the harm they say she suffered and [Trump's] statements," Habba said, arguing that there were independent critics messaging Carroll before Trump issued his defamatory statements denying Carroll's June 2019 sexual assault allegation.

"This is the beauty and dangers of free speech in America. Everyone is entitled to their opinion," Habba said, asserting that Trump has no more control over the thoughts and feelings of social media users "than he does the weather."

"It is Ms. Carroll's burden, not President Trump's, to prove his statements are the cause of any harm, and clearly she has failed to meet that burden," Habba argued.

She also questioned the legitimacy of the harm Carroll claims to have suffered. "Who is E. Jean?" Habba asked, telling the jury there are two versions, and asserting that the true E. Jean Carroll is a narcissist out for fame and attention, "and the one who comes to court to get money from my client."

Habba also chided Carroll for deleting messages containing death threats -- which Carroll said she did because they were painful to see -- and for never calling the police.

"She deleted her own evidence," Habba said. "She has to give them to you to support their claim for damages, but they're not here and that's a fact."

As Trump looked on, hunched forward, hands folded on the table, Habba quoted his brief testimony saying he did not intend to hurt Carroll.

"We do not know the true identities of the people who sent the messages to Ms. Carroll," Habba said. "President Trump should not have to pay for their threats. He does not condone them. He did not direct them. All he did was tell his truth."

After walking out of the courtroom during the plaintiff’s closing argument, Donald Trump returned to the courtroom for the defense's closing statements.

After walking out of the courtroom, former President Trump remained absent for the remainder of the plaintiff's closing statement, during which E. Jean Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan asked the jury to punish Trump for the "humiliation and mental anguish" he inflicted on Carroll.

"The evidence was as shocking as it was unmistakable," the attorney said. "Imagine for a second what it would feel like to go to sleep in one world and wake up in another world, one in which the president of the United States ... is attacking you.

Death threats followed death threats, which the lawyer said is what Trump wanted. "Donald Trump had said that Ms. Carroll should pay dearly and that Ms. Carroll had entered into dangerous territory," she told the jury.

She said the jury's compensatory damages award should include the cost to repair Carroll's reputation, which an expert testified could cost as much as $12 million.

"While Ms. Carroll built that career over five decades, Donald Trump shattered it in a matter of hours," she said. "People are not dying to write to an advice columnist who the president says is a disgrace."

The attorney also asked the jury to award punitive damages, arguing the defamation has not ceased, even after an earlier trial last May held him liable for sexual assault and defamation and awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.

She declined to name a dollar figure for the award, but said it should be at least as much as the $12 million repair campaign plus additional compensatory and punitive damages.

She urged the jury to consider one question: "How much will it take to make him stop?"

"You actually have the opportunity, maybe even a responsibility, to put an end to this by requiring Donald Trump to pay an amount of money large enough for him that it will finally make him stop," she said.

Prior to Donald Trump's dramatic and unexpected exit, E. Jean Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan had been telling the jury, in her closing statement, that Trump responded to Carroll's 2019 sexual assault claim "by trying to ruin her," thereby triggering "a tsunami of attacks" against her.

Trump shook his head, silently disagreeing, as the attorney reminded the jury that a prior trial found Trump sexually assaulted Carroll and, when she later accused him, unleashed "vicious attacks against her."

"This case is about how to compensate Ms. Carroll for the harm Donald Trump's original statements in June 2019 caused her," she said. "This case is also about punishing Donald Trump for what he has done and for what he continues to do. It's about punishing him for the malicious nature of his original attacks in 2019, and considering his continued attacks. This trial is about getting him to stop once and for all."

The attorney took aim at the defense's argument that Trump's statements made Carroll more famous, enlarged her following, and enabled new career opportunities.

"Being known as a liar and whack job is different than being known as a respected advice columnist," she said.