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New York (AP) – Former President Donald Trump May return to New York court on Thursday to defend himself against trial Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is being sued for more than $10 million after she accused him of sexual harassment for what she said about him.
Trump’s first visit to court on Monday ended abruptly because a juror was ill. The trial has since been suspended.
Carroll’s lawyers are expected to finish presenting their case in the morning. If everything goes according to plan, Trump could be on the witness stand before the lunch break. Trump is fresh from a big victory new hampshire primary on Tuesday and last week’s Iowa caucuses.
Carroll, 80, testified at a trial in the same courtroom last year that she was attacked by Trump in the dressing room of a Midtown luxury department store in the spring of 1996. Last year a jury agreed that it did and Carroll awarded $5 million In damages for sexual harassment and defamation.
Trump denied knowing Carroll and said she fabricated her claims to sell a memoir. He did not testify or attend last year’s hearing, a decision he now says he regrets.
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Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled that last year’s jury findings mean a new jury selected last week only needs to decide whether Trump was found guilty of defaming Carroll in 2019 while he was president and calling her a liar. How much more money to pay?
Thus, Kaplan has ruled, Trump will be banned Testifying about topics that would conflict with last year’s decision. For example, she will not be allowed to say whether she made her sexual harassment claims or whether she was motivated by her book deal or by political reasons.
Trump, 77, attended two of three days of the trial last week and told the jury — through muttered comments and head shaking gestures – That he was disappointed with the case against him.
Trump has already tested the judge’s patience. When he complained about a “witch hunt” and “fraud” into the jurors’ ears from his lawyers, Kaplan threatened to evict him If this happens again, then from the courtroom. Trump said, “I would love to.” Later that day, Trump said at a press conference that Kaplan was a “bad judge” and that Carroll’s accusation was “a fabricated, fabricated story.”
When he was not in court, he repeatedly made declarations on his social networks similar to the statements at stake in the trial. Carroll’s lawyers have presented some of those statements to the jury, arguing that the only way to stop Trump from defaming Carroll is to massively impact him financially.
Trump’s lawyers have tried to show the jury through cross-examination of witnesses that Carroll has gained some degree of fame and financial reward by confronting Trump, given the death threats made to him through social media and Much more than other poisons.
Alina Hubba, one of Trump’s lawyers, has told the judge that he can testify because, despite the judge’s restrictions, “he can still testify in his own defense.”
Among other things, he could testify about his mental state when he made the statements that led to his trial and how his comments came when Carroll was doing media interviews and reporters were asking him about his, Habba wrote.
He also suggested that he could “show his lack of malice or malice” by talking about how he “corrected” his initial refusal to ever meet Carroll.
Before testifying, Carroll’s lawyers are expected to restate their case by calling the final witness, whose testimony will likely last less than an hour and show fragments of the testimony Trump gave in October 2022. Was.
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