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
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.
Judge denies defense motion for him to recuse himself
Following the a lunch break, the defense team made an immediate motion for Judge Kaplan to recuse himself from the trial because of the "general hostility" defense attorney Michael Madaio said the judge has shown toward Trump's side.
Kaplan responded with a single word: "Denied."
Carroll is now returning to the witness stand to continue her testimony.
'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."
Carroll says she's always on 'hyper alert' due to threats
Ever since then-President Trump defamed her in June of 2019, E. Jean Carroll told the jury, she has been inundated with threats of physical and sexual violence.
In one message, Carroll said of the sender: "He wants me to stick a gun in my mouth in pull the trigger."
Another message said, "I hope someone really does attack, rape and murder you."
When another message was displayed for the jury, Carroll said, "I'm sorry people in the courtroom have to see this." Her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, replied, "I'm sorry to have to ask you about it, Ms. Carroll."
The message said, "i will rape u e jean carroll."
Carroll described her visceral reaction to these messages. "The body believes it's going to happen," she said. "It feels like it's going to happen."
Carroll said she now lives her life on "hyper alert" for potential threats in and around her home in upstate New York.
"I have a pit bull rescue. He's a great dog, but I never, never had him off the leash. When the first threats came in, I let him off the leash and he now patrols," Carroll said. "I alerted the neighbors to be on the watch and I bought bullets for the gun I had inherited from my father."
"Where do you keep that gun?" Kaplan asked. "By my bed," Carroll responded.
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.