Recent off a marketing campaign victory in Iowa, Donald Trump sat in a New York courtroom on Tuesday to defend himself for a second time in opposition to costs that he defamed author E Jean Carroll after she accused him of raping her many years in the past.
Trump watched from the defendant’s desk as his attorneys sparred with US District Choose Lewis Kaplan over the bottom guidelines of a civil case that can put allegations of misconduct again within the headlines whereas he pursues the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
He sat two tables behind Carroll, who’s accusing Trump of defaming her in 2019 by denying he had attacked her in a Bergdorf Goodman division retailer dressing room in Manhattan. Carroll, 80, is looking for no less than $10 million in damages.
Kaplan informed potential jurors they might solely have to contemplate how a lot Trump ought to pay Carroll in damages, not whether or not the alleged assault passed off or whether or not Trump lied about it afterward. He mentioned the trial is anticipated to final three to 5 days.
Trump, 77, has mentioned he needs to testify on the civil trial.
He may spend a lot of this 12 months shuttling between marketing campaign rallies and courtrooms, as he seeks to win the Republican presidential nomination for 2024.
He gained the primary state contest in Iowa on Monday by a large margin, and opinion polls present him main within the subsequent contest in New Hampshire every week from as we speak.
Trump has pleaded not responsible in 4 felony circumstances that might probably land him in jail earlier than the November presidential election, together with two that accuse him of making an attempt to overturn his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
He’s additionally a defendant in no less than two different civil circumstances.
Trump has solid himself because the sufferer of political persecution. On Tuesday, he mentioned Kaplan ought to dismiss the case.
“Choose Kaplan ought to put this entire corrupt, Crooked Joe Biden-directed Election Interference assault on me instantly to relaxation,” he posted on social media. “He ought to do it for America.”
SECOND TRIAL
Kaplan questioned greater than 80 potential jurors, and no less than 30 mentioned they’d heard in regards to the case. Their identities are being saved confidential.
Trump has already misplaced one defamation case in opposition to Carroll.
A jury final Might ordered Trump to pay the previous Elle journal columnist $5 million for having sexually abused her throughout the encounter, and defaming her in 2022 by denying that it occurred. Trump skipped that trial.
Kaplan, who has overseen each circumstances, has barred Trump from arguing that he didn’t defame or sexually assault Carroll or that she made up her account.
In each circumstances, Trump has mentioned he didn’t know Carroll and that she invented their encounter to promote her memoir.
Trump is interesting the $5 million award, and will attraction any award on the second trial. Appeals may take years.
NEW ATTACKS
In latest weeks, Trump has escalated his assaults on Carroll, together with a false accusation on social media this weekend that she didn’t know the last decade of their encounter.
He additionally known as Kaplan “horrible, biased, irrationally offended,” echoing assaults he has made on judges overseeing a few of his different circumstances. Trump might face an uphill struggle to flee important extra damages due to Kaplan’s pre-trial rulings.
These embrace banning Trump from suggesting he didn’t rape Carroll, as New York’s penal legislation defines the time period, as a result of the primary jury didn’t discover that Trump dedicated rape.
Kaplan has dominated that as a result of Trump used his fingers within the assault, Carroll’s rape declare was “considerably true.”
Trump additionally can not focus on DNA proof or Carroll’s sexual actions, or recommend that Democrats are bankrolling her case. Carroll is a Democrat.
And as on the first trial, jurors will be capable to see the 2005 “Entry Hollywood” video the place Trump graphically described the power of well-known individuals like himself to have sexual relations with stunning ladies.
Trump didn’t retract his feedback when requested about them in a 2022 deposition. Kaplan has mentioned the video may supply “helpful perception into Mr. Trump’s way of thinking” towards Carroll.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba on Sunday assured Kaplan that he was “properly conscious” of the courtroom’s rulings “and the strict confines positioned on his testimony.”
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