Former President Donald Trump testified for under three minutes, but he still broke a judge’s rules on what he could tell a jury about writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual assault and defamation allegations, and he left the courtroom on January 25 bristling to the spectators: “This is not America.”
Testifying in his defence in the defamation trial, Mr. Trump didn’t look at the jury during his short, heavily negotiated stint on the witness stand. Because of the complex legal context of the case, the judge limited his lawyers to ask a handful of short questions, each of which could be answered yes or no — such as whether he had made negative statements in response to an accusation and didn’t intend anyone to harm Ms. Carroll.
But Mr. Trump nudged past those limits. “She said something that I considered to be a false accusation,” he said, later adding: “I just wanted to defend myself, my family and, frankly, the presidency.”
Trump takes the stand
After Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told jurors to disregard those remarks, Mr. Trump rolled his eyes as he stepped down from the witness stand. The former president and current Republican front-runner left the courtroom during a break soon after, shaking his head and declaring to spectators — three times — that “this is not America.”
Ms. Carroll looked on throughout from the plaintiff’s table. The longtime advice columnist alleges that Mr. Trump attacked her in 1996, then defamed her by calling her a liar when she went public with her story in a 2019 memoir.
While Mr. Trump has said a lot about her to the court of public opinion, on Jan. 25 marked the first time he directly addressed a jury about her claims. However, jurors also heard parts of a 2022 deposition — a term for out-of-court questioning under oath — in which Mr. Trump vehemently denied Ms. Carroll’s allegations, calling her “sick” and a “whack job.” He told jurors on Jan. 25 that he stood by that deposition, “100%.”
Mr. Trump didn’t attend a related trial last spring, when a different jury found that he did sexually abuse Ms. Carroll and that some of his comments were defamatory, awarding her $5 million. This trial concerns only how much more he may have to pay her for certain remarks he made in 2019, while he was the President of the U.S. She’s seeking at least $10 million.
Because of the prior jury’s findings, Judge Kaplan said Mr. Trump now couldn’t offer any testimony “disputing or attempting to undermine” the sexual abuse allegations. The law doesn’t allow for “do-overs by disappointed litigants,” the judge said.
Even before taking the stand, Mr. Trump chafed at those limitations as the judge and lawyers for both sides discussed what he could be asked. “I never met the woman. I don’t know who the woman is. I wasn’t at the trial,” he cut in from his seat at the defence table without jurors in the room. Judge Kaplan told Mr. Trump he wasn’t allowed to interrupt the proceedings.
Mr. Trump was the last witness, and closing arguments are set for Jan. 26.
The accusation
Ms. Carroll, 80, claims Mr. Trump, 77, ruined her reputation after she publicly aired her account of a chance meeting that spiralled into a sexual assault in the spring of 1996. At the time, he was a prominent real estate developer, and she was an Elle magazine advice columnist who’d had a TV show.
She says they ran into each other at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store close to Trump Tower, bantered and ended up in a dressing room, teasing each other about trying on lingerie. She has testified that she thought it would just be a funny story to tell but then he roughly forced himself on her before she eventually fought him off and fled. The earlier jury found that she was sexually abused but rejected her allegation that she was raped.
Besides Mr. Trump, his defence called only one other witness, a friend of Ms. Carroll’s. The friend, retired TV journalist Carol Martin, was among two people the writer told about her encounter with Mr. Trump shortly after it happened, according to testimony at the first trial.
Mr. Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba confronted Ms. Martin on Jan. 23 with text messages in which she called Ms. Carroll a “narcissist” who seemed to be reveling in the attention she got from accusing and suing Mr. Trump. Ms. Martin said she regretted her word choices and does not believe that Ms. Carroll loved the attention she has been getting.
Ms. Carroll has testified that she has gotten death threats that worried her enough to buy bullets for a gun she inherited from her father, install an electronic fence, warn her neighbours and unleash her pit bull to roam freely on the property of her small cabin in the mountains of upstate New York.
Mr. Trump’s attorneys have tried to show the jury through their cross-examination of various witnesses that by taking on Mr. Trump, Ms. Carroll has gained a measure of fame and financial rewards that outweigh the threats and other venom slung at her through social media.
After Ms. Carroll’s lawyers rested on Jan. 25, Ms. Habba asked for a directed verdict in Mr. Trump’s favour, saying Ms. Carroll’s side hadn’t proven its case. Judge Kaplan denied the request.
Even before testifying, Mr. Trump had already tested the judge’s patience. After he complained to his lawyers last week about a “witch hunt” and a “con job” within earshot of jurors, Judge Kaplan threatened to eject him from the courtroom if it happened again. “I would love it,” he said.
Later that day, Mr. Trump told a news conference Judge Kaplan was a “nasty judge” and that Ms. Carroll’s allegation was “a made-up, fabricated story.”
While attending the trial last week, Mr. Trump made it clear — through muttered comments and gestures like shaking his head — that he was disgusted with the case. When a video clip from a Mr. Trump campaign rally last week was shown in court on Jan. 25, he appeared to lip-synch himself saying the trial was rigged.
The trial had been suspended since early Monday because of a juror’s illness. When it resumed on Thursday, the judge said two jurors were being “socially distanced” from the others.
Trump’s big political victories
Mr. Trump attended the trial fresh off big victories in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday and the Iowa caucuses last week. Meanwhile, he also faces four criminal cases. He has been juggling court and campaign appearances, using both to argue that he’s being persecuted by Democrats terrified of his possible election.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Ms. Carroll has done.
