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 is in court
Former President Donald Trump has arrived in court this morning.
The proceedings, which were scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m. ET, were off to a late start.
Carroll's attorneys expected to rest their case
If former President Trump takes the stand in his own defense today, it will happen after Carroll's attorneys rest their case.
Carroll's lawyers plan to call one final witness: Robbie Myers, the former editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, where Carroll was an advice columnist.
As part of the defense's case, Trump's lawyers also plan to call Carol Martin, a friend of Carroll's who testified in the earlier assault and defamation trial.
Trump indicates he'll attend trial today, could take stand
In a post to his Truth Social platform overnight, former President Trump indicated that he will attend his defamation damages trial today.
"But now I'm heading back to New York City for a trial based on False Accusations, from perhaps decades ago -- The woman has no idea when!" Trump wrote. Carroll has accused Trump of assaulting her around 1996 but can't pinpoint the year.
In a series of other posts, Trump also disparaged Carroll, said she made up her story, and suggested she was a paid political operative.
If Trump takes the stand today, he would be banned from using any of those defenses based on a pretrial ruling by Judge Lewis Kaplan which determined that -- because a jury last year already found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and then defaming her -- Trump is barred from arguing that he did not sexually abuse Carroll or that he never met her.
Trial now scheduled to resume Thursday
Former President Trump's defamation damages trial has been postponed an additional day and is scheduled to resume on Thursday morning.
The postponement was announced in an update posted to the court's docket.
The trial was adjourned Monday morning due to COVID-19 concerns.
'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."
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."