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 seated in courtroom
Donald Trump has taken a seat in court, where jury selection in his defamation trial is scheduled to get underway this morning.
His decision to attend this trial is a clear shift for the former president, whose lawyers portrayed his absence from last year's defamation and battery trial as a service to New York City, saying the city would not have to suffer the "logistical and financial burdens" of Trump's attendance.
Carroll's attorneys, however, pounced on Trump's absence.
"He didn't even bother to show up here in person," attorney Roberta Kaplan told the jury.
Writing on social media last month, Trump blamed his absence at the trial on "not good advice" from his then-lawyer Joe Tacopina.
"I was asked by my lawyer not to attend--'It was beneath me, and they have no case.' That was not good advice," Trump wrote.
Trump attorney Alina Habba is serving as Trump's lead defense attorney for this week's trial.
Carroll arrives for trial
E. Jean Carroll has arrived at the courthouse for the first day of the trial.
The former Elle magazine columnist smiled to reporters as she entered court.
Trump arrives at courthouse
Following his victory in Iowa, former President Trump landed at 3:30 a.m. in New York and just arrived at his civil defamation trial in lower Manhattan.
Trump is not required to attend the trial, though his decision not to attend last year's defamation and battery trial by the same plaintiff, writer E. Jean Carroll, was mocked by Carroll's attorney.
Trump's motorcade pulled up to the courthouse this morning at at 8:50 a.m. ET.
On heels of Iowa victory, Trump is back on trial
When Donald Trump's federal defamation trial gets underway in lower Manhattan this morning, it will be only about 11 hours since the former president claimed victory in the Iowa caucuses.
The trial is expected to take about a week, which could take Trump right to the doorstep of the New Hampshire Primary, scheduled for next Tuesday.
The former president did not attend last year's trial, held at the same courthouse, where a New York jury found him liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll and defaming her when he denied her accusation in a 2022 social media post.
Cross-examination of Carroll stumbles at the start
The direct examination of E. Jean Carroll ended with her telling the jury she would "never get used to attacks" like the ones she has continued to endure from former President Trump and his followers.
"Was he posting about you as recently as yesterday? Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan asked regarding Trump.
"That's what I've been told," Carroll answered before she was shown a Truth Social post from Tuesday, during the lunch break, in which Trump called the trial a "fake case from a woman I've never met, seen or touched."
The cross-examination of Carroll began on a discordant note when defense attorney Alina Habba tried to confront Carroll with some of her testimony from an earlier deposition.
There was a dispute over whether Habba had properly told the judge which part of the deposition she intended to introduce.
"We're going to do it my way, Ms. Habba," Judge Kaplan said.
"Sure," Habba replied, abandoning that line of questioning.