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
Trial to resume Wednesday
Donald Trump's defamation damages trial, which was adjourned Monday morning due to COVID-19 concerns, will resume Wednesday.
Judge Lewis Kaplan had originally said court would resume on Tuesday, but has now pushed that back a day.
"This Court functioned all the way through the worst of the COVID pandemic," Judge Kaplan said this morning before court was adjourned. "We conducted over a hundred jury trials right through the lockdowns and everything else. So we have gotten through all of that -- I'm sure we'll get through all of this too."
Defense wants Trump's testimony moved due to NH primary
After Judge Kaplan adjourned the trial until Tuesday due to COVID-19 concerns, defense attorney Alina Habba asked him to postpone former President Trump's testimony until Wednesday because "tomorrow is the New Hampshire primary."
Trump, sitting at the defense table, appeared visibly irritated, actively conferring with Habba before she raised concerns about the timing.
The judge did not immediately rule on her request.
Carroll's attorneys opposed the delay.
The judge also denied the defense's latest motion for a mistrial, which they filed on Friday.
"The defense made a motion for a mistrial, again," the judge said. "That motion is denied."
Trump spent an additional 30 minutes inside the courthouse after the trial was adjourned, then drove off in his motorcade.
Court adjourned until Tuesday due to COVID-19 concerns
Court is adjourned Monday due to health concerns on the part of several participants.
The proceedings will resume Tuesday, pending everyone's good health, Judge Lewis Kaplan announced.
A juror reported feeling "hot and nauseous," so the judge sent him home for the day with instructions to get a COVID-19 test.
Additionally, defense attorney Alina Habba reported she is not feeling well. One or both of her parents had COVID-19 and she was exposed at a dinner with them three days ago, she said.
Habba said she had a fever 48 hours ago but a court-administered COVID-19 test this morning came back negative.
"We will not take testimony today," Kaplan said.
Former President Trump sat between Habba and her law partner Michael Madaio as the judge made the announcement.
"See you tomorrow, I hope," Judge Kaplan said.
Judge expected to closely monitor Trump's testimony
If Donald Trump takes the stand as expected today, the judge in the case is likely to closely supervise his testimony based on the ground rules the judge has laid down for the trial.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who threatened to throw Trump out of the courtroom last week for making comments within earshot of the jury, established in a pretrial ruling that Trump is barred from arguing that he did not sexually abuse Carroll or that he never met her.
As Judge Kaplan has instructed the jury, it is not their responsibility to determine the truthfulness of Carroll's allegations because a jury last year already found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and then defaming her; their job is only to determine whether Trump will have to pay Carroll additional damages beyond the $5 million awarded in the earlier trial.
According, Kaplan ruled, Trump cannot argue that he believed the two statements he made in June 2019 denying Carroll's allegations.
Instructing the jury last week on the facts of the case, Kaplan said, "Because you must accept them as true, this trial is not a do-over of the previous trial which determined those facts. What remains for you to decide are only two very limited issues relating to damages for Mr. Trump's publication of those two statements."
'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."