"Not America," Donald Trump muttered as he exited the courtroom following his testimony.

"It's not America. This is not America," he repeated, his voice rising as he slowly walked toward the courtroom exit.

Court was adjourned, with closing arguments scheduled for Friday.

"Do you stand by your testimony in your deposition?" Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, asked Trump on the witness stand.

"100% yes," Trump responded.

"Did you deny the allegation to defend yourself?" Habba asked. "Yes I did, that's exactly right," Trump responded.

"Mr. President, did you ever instruct anyone to hurt Ms. Carroll?"

"No, I just wanted to defend myself, my family and frankly the presidency," Trump answered.

The judge struck everything after the word "no."

On cross-examination Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan asked whether this is the first trial with Carroll that Trump has attended. He said yes.

On redirect, Trump affirmed he was represented by counsel.

Trump then stepped down from the stand, his testimony over after all of three minutes.

Prior to Trump taking the witness stand, Judge Lewis Kaplan reminded the parties, outside the jury's presence, that a prior trial found "Mr. Trump in fact sexually abused Ms. Carroll by forcibly and without consent inserting his fingers into her vagina" and that "Ms. Carroll did not make up her claim of forcible sexual abuse."

Kaplan said the prior trial also established Trump's statements of denial were defamatory and that Trump "knew they were false, had serious doubts as to the truth of what he said or made those statements with a high degree of awareness that they were probably false."

The judge reminded the defense that Trump cannot make any argument "disputing or undermining those determinations." He said "there is cause for concern" that Trump's testimony might contain inadmissible evidence.

"I want to know everything he is going to say," Kaplan told defense attorney Alina Habba.

"That he stands by his deposition," Habba responded. "He is going to say that he did not make the statements to hurt Ms. Carroll."

Habba said Trump will also say that he had to respond to the allegation and did not instruct anyone to disparage Carroll.

Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, complained that while Habba was giving her proffer, "Mr. Trump said under his breath that he never met her and had never seen her before."

Kaplan said the jury would be instructed that, regardless of what Trump says on the witness stand, "he did it."

Trump was overheard saying he was not at the first trial and that he does not "know this woman" as Habba tried to affirm Trump understood the confines of his testimony.

"So he will comply with the rulings?" Kaplan asked. "That is my understanding," Habba replied.

The judge has limited the examination to three questions: Does he stand by the deposition? Did he deny the allegation because an accusation had been made? And did he instruct anyone to hurt Carroll?

"Defense calls President Donald Trump," attorney Alina Habba said as Trump took the stand in his own defense.

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."