After days of waiting, Trump spends minutes on the witness stand
Former President Donald J. Trump took the stand Thursday in defense of himself in the trial of E. Jean Carroll's defamation case against him, a civil case stemming from her accusation that he raped her mid-way in a department store dressing room. – The nineties.
His testimony, after days of anticipation, lasted less than five minutes.
“The defense is calling President Donald Trump,” Alina Habba, his lead attorney, told the court.
She asked the former president if he stood by his comments in a statement calling Ms. Carroll a liar.
“One hundred percent, yes,” Trump said. “She said something; I consider it a false accusation.”
Mr. Trump's brief appearance came after much pretrial debate over whether the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, should ensure that Mr. Trump does not stray from the sole issue in the case: damages. Ms. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, had written to the judge saying Trump might see a political advantage “in deliberately turning this trial into a circus.”
In the end, both sides appeared to have accomplished at least some of their goals Thursday: Trump answered the handful of questions his lawyer asked, and he didn't rant about Ms. Carroll.
The only issue facing the nine-member jury in the case is how much money, if any, Mr Trump must pay Ms Carroll in damages for defaming her in June 2019 after she first publicly accused him, in a book excerpt in New York City. magazine, to attack her. At the time, Mr. Trump, who was still in office, called her accusation “completely false” and said he had never met Ms. Carroll and that she was just trying to sell a book.
Ms. Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million for the damage she claims was done to her reputation, as well as damages in an effort to stop Mr. Trump, 77, from discrediting her as he has done on social media . posts, on CNN, at press conferences and on the campaign trail.
She has already won a civil judgment last year in a lawsuit over the locker room attack and another defamation suit. In May, a jury awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million after finding that Trump sexually assaulted her and also defamed her in a 2022 post on his Truth Social website. Judge Kaplan ruled that these findings applied to the current trial, and that in court Mr. Trump could not dispute Ms. Carroll's version of events or claim that she had fabricated her story.
The civil case is just part of a tangle of legal challenges facing Trump, including four criminal charges comprising 91 felonies. As he seeks a return to the White House, Mr. Trump has alternated campaign stops with court appearances, using his time in court as an opportunity to reach out to voters and complain that he has been mistreated.
In those appearances, he continued to lash out, again calling Ms. Carroll a liar and labeling Judge Kaplan “a man who hates Trump.”
With Mr. Trump's complaints have also come loud attacks on the judge and prosecutor from the former president's supporters. The jurors, by order of Judge Kaplan, are anonymous and referred to only by number. The judge even advised them not to reveal their identities to each other.
On Thursday morning, Mr. Trump was joined in court by several lawyers in addition to his civil litigation team, including his legal counsel Boris Epshteyn and Susan R. Necheles, who is representing Trump in a criminal case in Manhattan. Mr. Epshteyn conferred quietly with Ms. Necheles during the day and he also passed notes to Ms. Habba while she interviewed a witness.
Over the course of the morning, Ms. Carroll's lawyers played for the jury an excerpt from a video statement Mr. Trump made in another case against him: the civil fraud case brought by New York's attorney general. In the recording, Mr. Trump discusses the value of his properties and estimates that his brand alone is worth “maybe $10 billion.”
The recording could show jurors how Trump estimates his wealth, which could be beneficial if Ms. Carroll's lawyers ask the jury to impose significant damages.
Early in the afternoon it was time for the former president to testify in his own defense, as he had promised for days. Mr. Trump has said he regrets not appearing in the trial last spring; he has said that his lawyer at the time advised him not to attend.
His testimony came only after Judge Kaplan questioned Ms. Habba, outside the presence of the jury, about what the former president would say — an effort to ensure he did not stray beyond the scope of the case.
Mr. Trump seemed angry about the restrictions; At one point before the jury entered the courtroom, he said, gesticulating emphatically, “I never met the woman. I don't know who the woman is.”
The judge intervened: “Mr. Trump, keep your voice down.”
Finally, he took the stand. Ms. Habba asked Mr. Trump whether he intended to hurt Ms. Carroll with his statements.
“No,” said Mr. Trump. “I wanted to defend myself, my family and, quite frankly, the presidency.” Ms. Carroll's attorney, Ms. Kaplan, immediately objected.
Judge Kaplan sustained the objection, saying: “Everything after 'no' is struck out – the jury will ignore it.”
The cross-examination was also brief: Ms. Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, asked whether this was the first trial Mr. Trump had attended in which Ms. Carroll was the plaintiff. He said yes.
Ms. Habba then asked whether Mr. Trump had listened to the advice of the lawyer who represented him at the time — prompting an objection from Ms. Kaplan. The judge declared the objection well-founded. Mr Trump was excused.
The jurors remained poker-faced as Mr. Trump testified; Some looked at him, while others looked down. As Mr. Trump stepped off the witness stand and returned to the defense table, he looked straight ahead and did not make eye contact with the jurors.
Lawyers for Ms. Carroll and Mr. Trump are expected to spend much of Friday morning making closing arguments to the jury, and the jury will then begin deliberating. A ruling could come Friday. In the earlier trial, the jury deliberated for less than three hours.
On Thursday, after Trump's brief testimony, he slowly walked out of the courtroom.
“This isn't America,” he said loudly. 'Not America. This isn't America.”
Olivia Bensimon, Anusha Bayya And Maggie Haberman reporting contributed.