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.
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.
Top headlines:
- Jury awards Carroll $83.3 million in damages
- Trump walks out during plaintiff's closing statement
- Trump testifies he denied allegations to defend himself
- Repairing Carroll's reputation would cost $12M, says expert
- 'I would love it,' Trump says to judge's threat to toss him
- Trump 'ended the world that I had been living in,' Carroll says
- 'This is not a do-over,' judge instructs jury
Trump walks out during plaintiff's closing statement
Former President Trump walked out of the courtroom as Carroll's attorney was delivering her closing statement.
Judge Lewis Kaplan interrupted.
"The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom," the judge said.
Judge warns courtroom to be silent during closings
Before the jury was brought into the courtroom, Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a warning to all present prior to the start of closing arguments.
"No one in the courtroom is to say anything except for opposing counsel to say objection," the judge said. "No audible comments by anybody else."
Kaplan did not direct the warning at anyone in particular, but earlier in the trial he threatened to boot Trump from courtroom after the former president made comments that the jury could hear.
Before the jury entered, the defense asked permission to show the jury tweets from 2019 that Twitter users had written about E. Jean Carroll prior to Trump's defamatory statements denying her assault claim. Earlier, Trump's attorneys had argued that Trump wasn't responsible for the online attacks on Carroll, because she was already being attacked before Trump issued his denial.
The judge did not allow the defense to display the additional tweets.
When Trump attorney Alina Habba attempted to press ahead with her argument, Kaplan interrupted.
"You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup -- now sit down," Kaplan boomed.
Trump arrives at courthouse
Former President Trump has arrived at the courthouse for closing arguments this morning.
Jurors are expected to begin deliberations today after attorneys for Trump and E. Jean Carroll deliver their closings.
Carroll expected to request $10M+ in damages
After four days of testimony, attorneys for E. Jean Carroll and Donald Trump are scheduled to deliver their closing arguments this morning.
Once closings conclude and Judge Lewis Kaplan instructs the jury on the law, nine jurors will begin deliberating how much money, if any, Trump should pay in damages for making two defamatory statements about Carroll in 2019.
In filings to the court, Carroll's lawyers have indicated they're seeking at least $10 million in damages, but their statements to the jury have reflected a potentially higher number based on Trump's repeated defamatory statements during the two-week jury trial.
Carroll's lawyers argued that Trump made 22 defamatory statements last Tuesday, when opening arguments were delivered in the case, and that overall he's made more than 100 defamatory statements, both in and out of court, during the two-week trial.
"Think about that when you consider how much money it will take to get him to stop," Carroll's lawyer Shawn Crowley told the jury earlier.