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

A jury ordered Donald Trump to pay Carroll $83 million for defaming her.

Last Updated: January 18, 2024, 5:50 PM EST

Former President Donald Trump, at the end of a five-day trial, has been ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages to former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll for defaming her in 2019 when he denied her allegations of sexual abuse.

Last year, in a separate trial, a jury determined that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, and that he defamed her in a 2022 social media post by calling her allegations "a Hoax and a lie" and saying "This woman is not my type!"

Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has said he doesn't know who Carroll is.

Jan 17, 2024, 1:17 PM EST

'I would love it,' Trump says to judge's threat to toss him

At the lunch break, Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to boot former President Trump from the courtroom if he continues to make side comments within earshot of the jury.

The warning came after E. Jean Carroll's attorney Shawn Crowley complained for a second time about Trump's comments.

"The defendant has been making statements that we can hear at counsel table," she said, quoting Trump as saying, "It is a witch hunt" and "It really is a con job." When a video of Trump disparaging E. Jean Carroll was played for the court, Crowley said Trump remarked, "It's true."

PHOTO: E. Jean Carroll testifies before Judge Lewis Kaplan as former President Donald Trump watches footage of himself, during the second civil trial at Manhattan Federal Court in New York, on Jan. 17, 2024, in this courtroom sketch.
E. Jean Carroll testifies before Judge Lewis Kaplan as former President Donald Trump watches footage of himself appearing on a CNN Town Hall event, during the second civil trial where Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York, on Jan. 17, 2024, in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

Judge Kaplan, in response, addressed the defense from the bench.

"Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which is what has been reported to me," the judge said. "Mr. Trump, I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial."

"I understand you are probably very eager for me to do that," the judge added, to which Trump threw his up his arms and said, "I would love it, I would love it."

"I know you would, because you can't control yourself in this circumstance," Kaplan replied. "You just can't."

Jan 17, 2024, 12:38 PM EST

Carroll says she's always on 'hyper alert' due to threats

Ever since then-President Trump defamed her in June of 2019, E. Jean Carroll told the jury, she has been inundated with threats of physical and sexual violence.

In one message, Carroll said of the sender: "He wants me to stick a gun in my mouth in pull the trigger."

Another message said, "I hope someone really does attack, rape and murder you."

When another message was displayed for the jury, Carroll said, "I'm sorry people in the courtroom have to see this." Her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, replied, "I'm sorry to have to ask you about it, Ms. Carroll."

The message said, "i will rape u e jean carroll."

Carroll described her visceral reaction to these messages. "The body believes it's going to happen," she said. "It feels like it's going to happen."

Carroll said she now lives her life on "hyper alert" for potential threats in and around her home in upstate New York.

"I have a pit bull rescue. He's a great dog, but I never, never had him off the leash. When the first threats came in, I let him off the leash and he now patrols," Carroll said. "I alerted the neighbors to be on the watch and I bought bullets for the gun I had inherited from my father."

"Where do you keep that gun?" Kaplan asked. "By my bed," Carroll responded.

Jan 17, 2024, 12:00 PM EST

Judge instructs Trump to keep his voice down

Former President Trump has been making side commentary during E. Jean Carroll's testimony within earshot of the jury, Carroll's lawyer complained during a break in the proceedings, outside the jury's presence.

"Mr. Trump is sitting at the back table and has been loudly saying things" like "'Carroll's statements are false' and 'she now seems to have gotten her memory back,'" the attorney, Shawn Crowley, told Judge Kaplan.

Sitting at the defense table, Trump has been seen scoffing, chuckling, and encouraging his attorney, Alina Habba, to interject during the proceedings. He has been visibly shaking his head at some of what Carroll asserts on the witness stand.

Former President Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll attend jury selection in the second civil trial after Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York, Jan. 16, 2024, in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

When, earlier, Judge Kaplan denied the defense's request for an adjournment and instructed Habba to "sit down," Trump was heard saying, "He is a very nasty guy."

During Carroll's testimony in which she said she interpreted Trump's remark that "she's not my type" to mean "I'm too ugly to assault," Trump was heard laughing after the judge overruled a defense objection.

Before the jury returned to the courtroom, Judge Kaplan addressed Trump's side comments and instructed him to "take special care" to keep his voice down when conferring with counsel, "so that the jury does not overhear it."

Jan 17, 2024, 11:35 AM EST

Trump 'ended the world that I had been living in,' Carroll says

Recounting her response when Trump denied her rape claim in 2019, Carroll said that when Trump said "she's not my type," she interpreted it to mean "I'm too ugly to assault."

"What did it feel like to have the President of the United States say those things about you?" her attorney Roberta Kaplan asked.

"To have the President of the United States, one of the most powerful persons on Earth, calling me a liar for three days and saying I'm a liar 26 times -- I counted them -- it ended the world that I had been living in. And I entered a new world," Carroll responded as Trump sat at the defense table. "I was attacked. I was attacked on Twitter, I was attacked on Facebook, I was attacked in news blogs, I was attacked, brutally attacked, in messages."

The jury saw some of those messages, which mimicked Trump's statements, calling her "lying old hag" or saying "shame on you and your lying I-hate-Trump story."

Carroll testified that the messages started instantly and have not stopped. She said she sometimes receives "scores and scores, sometimes hundreds a day."

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