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. 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. At the time, he was a prominent real estate developer, and she was an Elle magazine advice columnist who'd had a TV show. Trump was the last witness, and closing arguments are set for Friday.Ĭarroll, 80, claims Trump, 77, ruined her reputation after she publicly aired her account of a chance meeting that spiraled into a sexual assault in spring 1996. Kaplan told Trump he wasn't allowed to interrupt the proceedings. I wasn’t at the trial,” he cut in from his seat at the defense table without jurors in the room. The law doesn't allow for “do-overs by disappointed litigants," the judge said.Įven before taking the stand, Trump chafed at those limitations as the judge and lawyers for both sides discussed what he could be asked. She's seeking at least $10 million.īecause of the prior jury's findings, Kaplan said Trump now couldn't offer any testimony “disputing or attempting to undermine” the sexual abuse allegations. This trial concerns only how much more he may have to pay her for certain remarks he made in 2019, while president. Trump didn't attend a related trial last spring, when a different jury found that he did sexually abuse Carroll and that some of his comments were defamatory, awarding her $5 million. While Trump has said a lot about her to the court of public opinion, Thursday marked the first time he has directly addressed a jury about her claims.īut jurors also heard parts of a 2022 deposition - a term for out-of-court questioning under oath - in which Trump vehemently denied Carroll's allegations, calling her “sick” and a “whack job.” Trump told jurors Thursday that he stood by that deposition, “100%." The longtime advice columnist alleges that Trump attacked her in 1996, then defamed her by calling her a liar when she went public with her story in a 2019 memoir. 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."Ĭarroll looked on throughout from the plaintiff's table. “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.”Īfter Judge Lewis A Kaplan told jurors to disregard those remarks, Trump rolled his eyes as he stepped down from the witness stand. Because of the complex legal context of the case, the judge limited his lawyers to asking a handful of short questions, each of which could be answered yes or no - such as whether he had made his negative statements in response to an accusation and didn't intend anyone to harm Carroll. Testifying in his own defence in the defamation trial, Trump did not look at the jury during his short, heavily negotiated stint on the witness stand.
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