Closing arguments will begin Friday morning at E. Jean Carroll’s damages the court Against Donald Trump, the writer is expected to seek more than $10 million for repeatedly defaming the former president, calling the sexual abuse allegations against him a “fraud.”
Campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung told NBC News that Trump, who made his second public appearance on Thursday since the re-election campaign began, plans to attend the proceedings.
Trump delivered a dramatic yet succinct statementAfter her allegations went public in 2019, she said she lashed out at Carroll because she wanted to “defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency.” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered that the comment be stricken from the record because it did not answer a question he answered.
Kaplan placed strict limits on what Trump would say on the stand because he had already been was held responsible For slandering Carroll and I couldn’t say otherwise. Nevertheless, when asked by his lawyer Alina Habba whether he made the comments in self-defense, Trump replied: “Yes. I consider it a false accusation.”
The judge said before Trump’s testimony that he would tell the jury to disregard such statements before deliberating. “The jury will be instructed to say that no matter what he says today, it happened and it’s the law,” Kaplan said.
A different jury indicted Trump last year Carroll sexual abuse at a New York department store in the 1990s and for defaming it by calling it a “crazy job.” Kaplan used the ruling to impeach Trump in the current case based on similar statements he made about him when he was president in 2019. The jury is only charged with determining how much or how little the writer should be paid.
Carroll is seeking at least $10 million in damages.”damage to his reputation, humiliation in his public and private life, and mental anguish,” in addition to not specifying an amount of punitive damages to “punish Trump for his willful conduct and deter Trump and others from continuing to defame him.” Several examples of Trump’s repeated firings at Carroll were shown to reporters and on social media Thursday for the jury. $5 million verdict it was handed over in another case last year.
An expert testifying on Carroll’s behalf imposed the cost restores its reputation only $7 million to $12 million, and Carroll’s team will seek additional damages for the emotional harm he suffered. As they have often done since the trial began on January 16, they will seek huge punitive damages, arguing that a heavy sentence is needed to convince Trump to stop trashing it. Mondaywhen the case was delayed for Covid-related reasons, Trump posted about Carroll about three dozen times on the Truth Social website.
Trump’s team argued that Carroll should receive nothing or at most “nominal” compensation because Trump was not guilty of the online vitriol and death threats that followed his posts and mocking Carroll.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, noted that many of the threats echoed Trump’s language about Carroll and said he was responsible.
Trump did not attend last year’s trial and declined to testify, but he has been in court nearly every day of the current trial. The hearing was adjourned for three days after the jury was impaneled earlier in the week get sick and Habba told the judge he had been exposed to the coronavirus and was feeling sick. He tested negative for the virus.
Von Hillyard contributed.