E. Jean Carroll enters Manhattan Federal Court, in the second civil trial after she accused former U.S. President Donald Trump of raping her decades ago, in New York City, U.S., January 18, 2024.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
The writer E. Jean Carroll resumed testifying Thursday in her civil defamation trial stemming from sexual assault claims against Donald Trump, a day after the former president clashed with the presiding judge in open court.
Trump did not return to the Manhattan federal courtroom for the second day of his accuser’s testimony. Instead, he was in Palm Beach, Florida, to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan had previously rejected a request by Trump’s lawyer to delay the trial for a week so that Trump could go to the funeral.
On Wednesday, Kaplan warned Trump that he could be kicked out of the courtroom for making “disruptive” outbursts during Carroll’s testimony.
Trump, 77, shook his hands in the air and shot back, “I would love it.”
The judge replied, “I know you would. You just can’t control yourself in this circumstances, apparently.”
E. Jean Carroll testifies before Judge Lewis Kaplan as former U.S. President Donald Trump watches, during the second civil trial where Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York City, U.S., January 17, 2024 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
The tense exchange came after an attorney for Carroll complained that Trump’s comments, such as calling the trial a “witch hunt” and a “con job,” could be heard by the jurors.
Carroll, 80, had testified in Trump’s presence that he raped her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s, then defamed her after she came forward with the accusation in 2019, when he was president.
She testified that his lies “shattered my reputation.”
“To have the president of the United States, one of the most powerful persons on earth, calling me a liar for three days and saying I’m a liar 26 times — I counted them — it ended the world that I had been living in,” Carroll said on the witness stand.
The trial is the second to center on Carroll’s claims of assault and defamation by Trump.
A jury last year in a separate but closely related civil trial found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million. Trump is appealing that verdict.
Ahead of the current trial, Kaplan ruled that Carroll defamation claims against Trump had already been proven, and that the trial would focus solely on deciding the amount owed in damages.
Carroll’s lawyers are asking for at least $10 million in damages in this case.
The former president, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate courts in addition to multiple civil cases, has turned his legal strife into a key feature of his 2024 presidential campaign. He is currently the clear frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
After leaving court on Wednesday, Trump headed to New Hampshire for a campaign event. He hopes to clean up in the Granite State’s GOP primary election next week, repeating his landslide victory in Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.