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
Carroll concedes she was attacked online before Trump's denial
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."
Cross-examination of Carroll to resume
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.
Carroll agrees she did not shy away from publicity
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.
Judge promptly rejects defense request for mistrial
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?"
Judge instructs Trump to keep his voice down
Former President Trump has been making side commentary during E. Jean Carroll's testimony within earshot of the jury, Carroll's lawyer complained during a break in the proceedings, outside the jury's presence.
"Mr. Trump is sitting at the back table and has been loudly saying things" like "'Carroll's statements are false' and 'she now seems to have gotten her memory back,'" the attorney, Shawn Crowley, told Judge Kaplan.
Sitting at the defense table, Trump has been seen scoffing, chuckling, and encouraging his attorney, Alina Habba, to interject during the proceedings. He has been visibly shaking his head at some of what Carroll asserts on the witness stand.
When, earlier, Judge Kaplan denied the defense's request for an adjournment and instructed Habba to "sit down," Trump was heard saying, "He is a very nasty guy."
During Carroll's testimony in which she said she interpreted Trump's remark that "she's not my type" to mean "I'm too ugly to assault," Trump was heard laughing after the judge overruled a defense objection.
Before the jury returned to the courtroom, Judge Kaplan addressed Trump's side comments and instructed him to "take special care" to keep his voice down when conferring with counsel, "so that the jury does not overhear it."