E. Jean Carroll, who testified yesterday that she's been inundated with online attacks ever since then-President Trump fiercely denied her rape allegation on June 21, 2019, conceded on cross-examination that, after the allegation was published, people were sending her negative messages in the hours before the White House publicly issued Trump's denial.

"Nothing like making up fake news to ruin the president's win in 2020," one message said. "I've got some advice for you drop this lie because it's a bad look for you," said another. A third called Carroll a "lying sack of s--- making false accusations right after a presidential run announcement."

"And that was before President Trump's tweet?" defense attorney Alina Habba asked Carroll.

"Yes," Carroll said.

Habba attempted to show more of the messages sent to Carroll, but Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, interrupted, saying, "We'll stipulate that there were nasty tweets sent to Ms. Carroll prior to 5:17 p.m.," the time of the first Tweet repeating Trump's denial.

Habba is trying to convince the jury that the former president should not be financially liable for the negativity hurled at Carroll by others. Carroll, who is seeking at least $10 million in damages, suggested that all of the negative, threatening messages she received mimic Trump.

"They want to emulate him," Carroll testified. "They're standing up for the man that they admire."

E. Jean Carroll will return to the witness stand this morning to resume her cross-examination -- this time without Donald Trump in the courtroom.

After attending the first two days of the trial, Trump will be absent today to attend the funeral of former first lady Melania Trump's mother, Amalija Knavs, who died last week after a long health battle.

During yesterday's proceedings, Judge Lewis Kaplan, for a third time, denied a request from Trump's legal team to pause the trial so Trump could attend the funeral.

"We would have assumed that for a trial like this, it's not an emergency in terms of timing, the judge would have been very nice, and they would let me go because I want to be at every trial day," Trump told reporters after court yesterday, calling Kaplan a "radical Trump hater."

Trump's attorney Alina Habba told Judge Kaplan she intends to question Carroll for less than an hour today, after which Carroll's lawyers plan to call to the stand an expert on reputational harm, as well as Robbie Myers, the former editor of the magazine where Carroll worked as an advice columnist.

E. Jean Carroll conceded on cross-examination that she anticipated "blowback" would follow the publication of her rape allegation against then-President Trump, and that she did not shy away from publicity that she now says has shattered her reputation.

"You've continued to publicize every lawsuit you had against President Trump?" defense attorney Alina Habba asked.

"Yes," Carroll responded. "Because I wanted people to know that a woman can speak up and win a trial. I wanted people to know. I'm 80. I don't want to be quiet. It's not right to make a woman be quiet. It has gone on for too long."

The defense has been trying to portray Carroll as an attention-loving woman who is overplaying her emotional accounts of how the backlash following her rape accusation affected her.

Carroll also said under questioning that she hosted watch parties in her lawyer's office that were attended by comedian Kathy Griffin and Trump's niece Mary Trump, both of whom are critics of the former president.

"Isn't Kathy Griffin known for holding up a severed head of President Trump?" Habba asked.

"Yes," Carroll said.

Court subsequently adjourned for the day, with Carroll scheduled to return to the witness stand on Thursday for additional cross-examination.

In the middle of E. Jean Carroll's cross-examination, former President Trump's defense attorney Alina Habba sought a mistrial, which the judge promptly denied.

Habba was questioning Carroll about threatening emails she said she received. Carroll said she deleted many of those messages because "I didn't know how to handle death threats. I thought deleting them was the easiest way to get them out of my life."

When Carroll said she had deleted some messages around the time of her earlier trial involving Trump, Habba asked for a mistrial, saying, "The witness has just admitted to deleting evidence herself."

Judge Kaplan immediately denied the request and said, "The jury will disregard everything Ms. Habba just said."

Habba also questioned whether Carroll received disparaging messages after publishing her account of the sexual assault at Bergdorf Goodman, but before Trump issued his denial.

"Some of the slime happened before the president issued his statement?" Habba asked.

"No," Carroll responded. "Because they were reacting to the White House statement."

Asked how she knew, Carroll said, "Because of the wording," prompting Habba to say, "So a denial from the White House would mean that any statement echoing it would be President Trump's fault?"

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."