Closing summary
Donald Trump took the witness stand in E Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial against him, marking the first time he has provided court testimony relating to her sexual assault claim against him.
Trump’s testimony lasted just a few minutes as the judge, Lewis Kaplan, significantly limited what the ex-president could say in court. The former president stood by his previous denial of Carroll’s sexual assault accusation.
Judge Kaplan admonished Trump for interrupting proceedings by talking while his lawyers were also speaking. When Trump grumbled that he had “never met this woman”, Kaplan told him to “keep your voice down.”
Carroll’s team called her former Elle editor, Roberta “Robbie” Myers, as a witness. Myers described Carroll as a talented “truth-teller” whose column was a “leader of the pack”. Carroll’s team also tried to establish that Myers did not have a deep personal relationship with Carroll, to undermine suggestion of bias.
Carroll’s team presented a handful of exhibits to jurors, including a television appearance in which Trump repeated a denial and an excerpt of an April 2023 video deposition in which he described his wealth. Carroll’s camp played one of the most shocking deposition excerpts of Trump, in which he mistook a photo of Carroll for his ex-wife, Marla Maples.
Trump’s lead attorney, Alina Habba, started the defense case by calling Carol Martin, a retired news anchor whom Carroll told about the alleged rape. Martin testified for Carroll in the first defamation trial, during which she said she had advised Carroll to keep quiet about the alleged assault. The defense tried to use this to undermine Carroll’s credibility.
Trump spent the hours before the trial resumed posting dozens of inflammatory messages on his Truth Social site attacking Carroll.
The court will resume on Friday morning to hear closing arguments.
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While the trial is over for today, both sides are expected to come back later this afternoon for a charge conference which is where they’ll agree to how the jury should be instructed.
While on the stand, Donald Trump was asked by his lawyer about his 2019 comments responding to E Jean Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.
Asked if he viewed the allegation as false, Trump said:
Yes, I did. That’s exactly right. She said something I considered a false accusation. Totally false.
His comment was stricken off the record, and Judge Kaplan instructed the jury to disregard the former president’s statement.
The Washington Post reported that as Donald Trump left the Manhattan courtroom after his testimony, he muttered:
This is not America. Not America. This is not America.
His voice got louder as he walked out, the paper said.
Court to resume tomorrow with closing arguments
Donald Trump’s testimony lasted just a few minutes, during which the former president said he “100%” stood by his deposition in the case and denied ever instructing anyone to hurt Carroll with his statements.
The jury has left the courtroom and court is scheduled to resume with closing arguments at tomorrow 9.30am.
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Trump leaves the stand after brief cross examination
Trump is then cross examined. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, says:
Sitting here today, Mr Trump – are you aware there was another trial between you and Ms Carroll?
Trump says “yes”. Kaplan asks:
Is this the first trial between you and Ms Carroll you’ve attended?
He also replies: “yes.”
Kaplan says she has no further questions.
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Trump says he 'wanted to defend himself, his family, the presidency'
Donald Trump has sat down at the witness stand. His lawyer, Alina Habba, asks:
Do you stand by your testimony in the deposition?
Trumps responds: “100% yes.”
Habba asks if he has ever instructed anyone to hurt E Jean Carroll in his statements. He replied:
No – I just wanted to defend myself, my family and frankly the presidency.
Habba says she has no more questions.
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Trump takes the stand
The jury has entered the courtroom.
The defense has called Donald Trump to the witness stand.
Judge Kaplan tells Trump to 'keep your voice down'
Trump just grumbled: “I never met this woman” to which judge Kaplan shot back: “Keep your voice down.”
There was another outburst, which we couldn’t hear. Judge Kaplan warned:
I’m sorry Mr Trump, you’re interrupting these proceedings by talking loudly while your counsel is talking and that’s not permitted.
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Prior to Trump taking the stand, lawyers on the case are discussing the extent of Trump’s testimony with the judge, Lewis Kaplan, and what he can and can’t say.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, said that she had three questions for him.
Kaplan, who has been adamant that Trump must remain in line and not re-litigate what was found at Carroll’s other trial, said:
I want to know everything he’s going to say.
Habba said:
I do not have an answer to that other than he stands by his deposition…that he stands by his testimony there, he’s going to say that he did not make the statements to hurt Ms Carroll and he’s going to say that he had to respond to the accusations and deny them. The statements speak for themselves.
Kaplan:
And that’s 100% of what he would say on the witness stand?
“I’m not testifying for my client, your honor,” Habba said.
Kaplan noted that Habba was representing what her client would be saying.
That is what my client is going to say: he did not do it … that he was addressing [the allegations] … that he never instructed anyone to hurt Ms Carroll, that is what he is going to say.”
”He’ll say nothing else?” Kaplan pressed. She replied:
That’s my understanding, your honor.
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Alina Habba tells court Donald Trump is her next witness
Parties are filing back to the courtroom.
Donald Trump’s chief lawyer Alina Habba was asked whether she has any more witnesses.
“Yes, your honor,” she said.
Judge Lewis Kaplan asked who and in response, Habba said, “President Trump.”
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Trump to likely testify as legal team continues attempts at discrediting Carroll
Donald Trump is likely set to take the stand in E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against him as his legal team ramps up its attempts at discrediting the columnist’s claims of sexual assault.
A potential Trump testimony will follow the ex-president’s legal team questioning of Carroll’s former boss Robbie Myers and Carroll’s friend and former news anchor Carol Martin.
On Thursday, Trump’s lead attorney Alina Habba appeared to suggest that Myers was biased by asking her, “You didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016, right? … Or in 2020? You don’t plan on voting for him in 2024, do you?”
Habba also asked Martin whether she felt Carroll had enjoyed the attention that came with her lawsuits against Trump, to which Martin responded, “At points.”
The trial was delayed by a few days after a juror fell ill with Covid-19 symptoms on Monday. Trump’s legal team previously attempted to get the trial’s judge, Lewis Kaplan, to delay the trial, citing the funeral of Trump’s late mother-in-law Amalija Knavs. Kaplan denied the request.
During Carroll’s testimony last week, Trump grumbled and complained loudly in court, at one point causing Kaplan to threaten to kick him out of the courtroom.
In response, Trump said, “I would love it. I would love it.”
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Summary
Here is where the day stands:
Robbie Myers, E Jean Carroll’s former editor, was questioned in court. Carroll’s team tried to establish that Myers did not have a deep personal connection with Carroll, asking her, “Did she ever tell you she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump?” In response, Myers said “No.”
Donald Trump’s lead attorney, Alina Habba, suggested Robbie Myers was biased during her cross examination. “You didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016, right?” Habba asked. “Or in 2020? You don’t plan on voting for him in 2024, do you?” she added.
E Jean Carroll’s team showed jurors video of Donald Trump confusing Carroll with his ex-wife Marla Maples during his deposition. In the video, Trump is seen pointing to a photo of Carroll, saying, “That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife.”
Donald Trump’s team also called Carol Martin to the stand. Martin, a friend of Carroll’s and a former anchor at WCBS-TV who has publicly corroborated the writer’s allegations of sexual assault by Trump, said she advised Carroll to keep quiet about the alleged assault.
Alina Habba asked Carol Martin whether she felt E Jean Carroll had enjoyed the attention that came with her lawsuits against Donald Trump. “At points,” Martin responded. When asked if she was “loving the adulation” she was receiving at one point, Martin replied, “Yes.”
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The court is now on lunch break.
It is set to resume at 10 minutes to 2pm.
Carol Martin testified that she had been friends with E Jean Carroll for more than 30 years, and that she had testified twice for the New York writer before.
Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba asked Martin whether she felt Carroll had enjoyed the attention that came with her lawsuits against Trump. “At points,” Martin responded.
Asked if she was “loving the adulation” she was receiving at one point, Martin said: “Yes.”
Martin: After the NYT podcast there was interest.. There was a Harvey Weinstein sidebar... Not just E. Jean, but others as well.
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 25, 2024
Habba: Did you think Ms. Carroll was enjoying the attention?
Martin: At points.
Habba: Ms. Martin, what does narcissism mean to you?
Martin also testified that she regretted earlier text messages in which she said Carroll’s “narcissism had run amok”.
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Meanwhile, the former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro has been sentenced to four months in prison for defying a congressional subpoena issued by the January 6 committee.
Navarro was found guilty in September of two misdemeanor counts of criminal contempt of Congress. He served as a White House trade adviser under then president Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Navarro was the second Trump aide to face contempt of Congress charges, after former White House adviser Steve Bannon.
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As one might expect, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba is trying to use Carol Martin to undermine Carroll’s credibility. She asked about their time at America’s Talking.
Do you know whether Ms Carroll was reprimanded at work for inappropriate work directed at Mr Ailes?
Carroll’s team objected and Judge Kaplan sustained their objection.
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Carol Martin, is retired news anchor whom Carroll told about the alleged rape. Carroll told Martin about the incident several days after the alleged attack.
Carroll and Martin both worked at America’s Talking, a now-shuttered television network started by Roger Ailes. After they both finished work one day, Carroll had asked if they could hang out, Martin testified in Carroll’s first trial.
Martin previously told jurors they were in her kitchen when Carroll “started telling me what had just happened”.
Martin recounted how Carroll told her about the alleged incident. “What, if anything, did you say to Ms Carroll about what she should do in the future?” Martin was asked at the first trial.
“She explained that she thought she was doing the right thing by not doing anything,” Martin had said.
But she wasn’t asking me what I would do, and so at some point, I just volunteered that I didn’t think she should do anything because he was Donald Trump, and he had a lot of attorneys, and I thought he would bury her, is what I told her.
“I have questioned myself more times than not over the years as to why I told her that,” Martin said in the first trial.
I am not proud that that’s what I had told her.
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With Carroll’s camp officially resting, Trump’s team is beginning the defense case.
Habba said:
Defense calls Carol Martin to the stand, please.
If Trump actually testifies, as he claimed he would, he would do so after Martin’s testimony ends.
Defense to call Carol Martin to the stand
Trump’s lead attorney, Alina Habba, said that the defense’s first witness will be Carol Martin.
Martin is a friend of Carroll’s and a former anchor at WCBS-TV in New York, who has publicly corroborated the writer’s allegations of sexual assault by Donald Trump.
During the first defamation trial against Trump last May, Martin said Carroll visited her within two days of Trump’s alleged attack. She described Carroll as “clearly agitated, anxious”.
Martin said she advised Carroll to keep quiet about the alleged assault. She said:
I just volunteered that she shouldn’t do anything because it was Donald Trump and he had a lot of attorneys and he would just bury her.
Martin said she “kept the covenant” not to talk about what Carroll had told her for many years until the advice columnist went public with her accusations against Trump in 2019.
Asked what she made of Carroll’s claim that Trump attacked her, Martin said:
I believed it then and I believe it today.
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The plaintiff rests.
Donald Trump’s lawyers are up next.
We’re now on a short break.
Carroll’s team said they’re about to rest.
They said that Donald Trump’s team expects to call two witnesses, and he’s one of them.
Can Trump’s courtroom antics be contained?
It’s not like the judges in his cases haven’t tried to curtail Donald Trump’s court theatrics. But they are in a bind: treating Trump like any other defendant and enforcing order in their courtrooms plays into his claims of political persecution.
The judge in the New York business fraud case, Arthur Engoron, ordered Trump to pay a $110,000 fine back in 2022 for dragging his feet in responding to a subpoena from the New York state attorney general. (He paid, but appealed the ruling; the money is being held in escrow until a final ruling is made.)
Last October, Engoron placed a gag order on Trump barring him from attacking court staff, fined him $5,000 for violating it when Trump publicly disparaged a court staffer, and warned him that a future violation could result in jail time. Trump ignored the warning and did it again; Engoron responded with a $10,000 fine and a warning of, “Don’t do it again, or it will be worse” – but no jail time. The Trump team’s response was to put out a statement calling Engoron a “Democrat Judge, under control of radical [New York Democratic attorney general] Letitia James”.
In Trump’s pending January 6 case in DC, the judge, Tanya Chutkan, placed a gag order on Trump last fall barring him from attacking prosecutors, court staff and potential trial witnesses after he posted inflammatory statements that called special counsel Jack Smith “deranged” and suggested his former chief of staff and a possible witness in the trial, Mark Meadows, was a coward.
Trump has appealed the order, but the federal appeals court has declined to lift it. The latest decision came on Tuesday, when the full appeals court unanimously refused to reconsider Trump’s request. He’s likely to appeal that to the US supreme court. But so far, there have been few signs he can win this particular fight.
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The biggest question in E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against Donald Trump isn’t whether Trump will be found liable (he already was) or even how much he’ll have to pay her (it could be a lot).
It’s how he’ll behave – and what, if anything, the judge can do to rein him in.
The last time Trump was in court, he grumbled so loudly from his seat that the judge, Lewis Kaplan, warned him he could be kicked out of court. “Mr Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited, and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive,” he said. “Mr Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial.”
“I would love it. I would love it,” Trump replied, apparently goading the judge to land on him hard so he could use it for political fodder.
It’s hard to think of how Trump could show more contempt (in the emotional, not legal, sense) for the multiple cases against him. He has repeatedly insulted and attacked prosecutors, judges and witnesses, and has clearly decided to make a spectacle of himself showing up unannounced when he isn’t required.
His claims of a “witch-hunt” have become a staple in his campaign speeches. On Tuesday, during his victory speech after winning the New Hampshire primary, he said: “Just a little note to Nikki. She’s not going to win. But if she did, she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes.”
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Jury shown video of Trump confusing Carroll with ex-wife in deposition
Carroll’s team is now showing jurors various exhibits including a television appearance where Donald Trump repeated a denial and an excerpt of a video deposition where he’s boasting about his wealth.
Earlier this month, Trump appeared in a courtroom in the civil case brought by New York attorney general Letitia James, who has argued the former president and his business associates should pay $370m for decades of financial fraud.
Carroll’s camp played one of the most shocking deposition excerpts of Trump, in which he mistook a photo of Carroll for his ex-wife, Marla Maples. This was also played in Carroll’s first trial against the ex-president.
Here’s the video clip of Trump’s deposition where he mistook a picture of Carroll for Maples:
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Trump attorney suggests Carroll's former boss is biased
Trump’s lead attorney, Alina Habba, began her cross of Robbie Myers by suggesting that she was biased.
“You didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016, right?” Habba asked. “Or in 2020? You don’t plan on voting for him in 2024, do you?”
The cross is done. There is no re-direct, and Carroll’s team just said they don’t have any more witnesses.
Carroll’s team is now introducing some evidence so they have not officially wrapped yet.
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Carroll's former editor tells court that writer did not tell her of sexual assault
Carroll’s team’s questioning of Robbie Myers was meant to establish that she had a respected role at the magazine and as a journalist.
Myers said that Carroll was a talented “truth-teller” and so popular that Elle considered her a destination for readers – that they liked her so much they would pick up the magazine and immediately flip to her column.
Myers said Carroll was so good and popular that she decided to give her a raise.
“I think her column was sort of the leader of the pack,” Myers said of Carroll’s writing and how her column inspired others to launch similar series.
Carroll’s team also tried to establish that Myers didn’t have a deep personal relationship with Carroll.
“Did she ever tell you about her personal life?” Myers said “no.”
Asked, “did she ever tell you she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump,” Myers also responded “no.”
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Carroll's former editor Robbie Myers takes the stand
Robbie Myers, E Jean Carroll’s former editor, is being questioned about her work history.
She described a 30-year magazine career which, in addition to helming Elle, included stints at Rolling Stone and Interview.
She also said in court that she had previously met Donald Trump. It was “when I was on an episode of Celebrity Apprentice. I was there as an editor of Elle to present what was known as a challenge to apprentices”.
She said she met him on the first day of filming.
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Trial resumes
Donald Trump is in the courtroom.
The jurors in seats two and three are going to be socially distanced “out of an abundance of caution,” judge Kaplan said.
E Jean Carroll’s team is now calling Roberta “Robbie” Myers, her former editor.
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Trump lashes out at Carroll in dozens of overnight posts just hours before trial
Donald Trump spent the hours before E Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial against him was set to resume on Thursday posting inflammatory messages on his Truth Social site attacking the writer.
The former president posted more than 35 times about Carroll overnight on Thursday, sharing a mix of rants, videos, and old social media posts and interviews with her.
“I’m heading back to New York City for a trial based on False Accusations, from perhaps decades ago – The woman has no idea when!” he wrote, referring to Carroll.
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Trump and Carroll arrive at Manhattan courthouse
Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the federal courthouse in Manhattan.
E Jean Carroll has also been pictured arriving at the courthouse.
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The possible courtroom showdown between Donald Trump and E Jean Carroll was initially expected to unfold on Monday. A juror fell ill with Covid symptoms en route to the courthouse, however, derailing proceedings.
Carroll’s lead attorney, Roberta Kaplan, argued that proceedings should continue without this juror. It was subsequently revealed in court, however, that Trump’s team had been exposed to Covid.
Trump’s lead attorney in this case, Alina Habba, said that she had been present at a dinner with her parents several days prior and that at least one of them had come down with Covid. Habba on Monday claimed to feel under the weather.
The judge agreed to postpone proceedings until Tuesday so that parties on Carroll’s case, as well as jurors, could take Covid tests. Habba then pointed out that Trump, who was going to testify, would be busy campaigning on Tuesday, and asked for another postponement. Habba said:
My client reminded me, and I am in trial mode, I apologize, so tomorrow is the New Hampshire primary, and he needs to be in New Hampshire. He was planning to testify. Clearly, he flew in last night to be here. I would just need his testimony to be Wednesday in light of the news about the juror today.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would not decide immediately. Later that day, a court filing revealed that proceedings would be postponed until Wednesday.
A court filing on Tuesday indicated proceedings would be postponed yet again until Thursday. No explanation for either postponement was given.
Donald Trump has been pictured waving to supporters this morning as he departed Trump Tower to make his way to the Manhattan federal courthouse in New York.
Donald Trump is expected to attend today’s Manhattan federal court proceedings and could be called to the stand to testify.
The former president attended trial proceedings on two days last week including on 17 January, when the former Elle writer described how his 2019 denials of her rape claim smeared her reputation. Carroll’s testimony marked the first time she confronted him in a courtroom.
Trump reacted to Carroll’s testimony with repeated outbursts, prompting the judge, Lewis Kaplan, to warn that the ex-president would be booted from court if he refused to behave. Trump’s response was to taunt the judge, setting the stage for another potential showdown between the veteran jurist and the bombastic 2024 Republican presidential candidate.
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E Jean Carroll defamation trial against Donald Trump to resume
Welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of E Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, where the pair could face off once again in the Manhattan federal court after a Covid-19 scare forced a last-minute delay on Monday.
This ongoing trial is Carroll’s second defamation case against Trump. A jury in May found the former US president liable of sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5m in damages.
Carroll claimed Trump raped her around late 1995 or 1996, in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store. She went public with her claim in 2019 when a portion of her book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, was published in New York magazine.
Carroll first sued Trump in 2019 over his subsequent denials. She sued him again in 2022 when New York’s Adult Survivors Act allowed her to file suit over the sexual assault and defamatory statements he made when no longer president.
That second lawsuit went to trial this spring. The judge, Lewis Kaplan, determined that the jury’s findings – that he sexually abused and defamed her – would be accepted as fact in this trial. This means the jury is only weighing damages.
The trial is expected to get under way at about 9.30am Eastern time.
