Summary
Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events at E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against Donald Trump:
Trump’s lead attorney Alina Habba tried to cast doubt on the threats E Jean Carroll faced as a result of Trump’s public remarks about her. Citing derogatory tweets directed towards Carroll, Habba asked whether Carroll agrees that the tweets are “not necessarily tied” to Trump’s statements. Carroll said: “Some of the tweets are definitely tied to the president’s statement.”
Cross-examination also took a turn for the absurd when Habba pointed to a 2013 tweet in which Carroll referred to penile functions. “You left that on your Twitter account as we stand here today, correct” asked Habba, to which Carroll answered in the affirmative.
Habba also appeared to suggest that Carroll had not suffered as a result of Trump’s comments, pointing to TV appearances as an example. “So, your reputation in many ways is better today isn’t it Ms Carroll?” said Habba. “No, my status was lowered. I’m partaking in this trial to bring my old reputation and status back,” replied Carroll.
Ashlee Humphreys, a Northwestern University marketing professor, also took to the witness stand today. She said that to restore Carroll’s reputation by putting out corrective messaging in relation to Donald Trump’s 2019 statements, Humphreys estimated, it could cost from $7.2m to $12.1m.
-
On cross-examination, Trump’s attorney Michael T Madaio suggested that the ex-president was not responsible for backlash against Carroll – because supporters were likely to believe him, and his denials, anyway. “Do you think that those same people would have been unlikely to believe Ms Carroll’s initial allegation?… You agree that people have confirmation bias, right?” he said. “I believe that confirmation bias can occur in many contexts, yes,” said Humphreys.
– Maya Yang
Updated
Meanwhile, the defamation trial has concluded for the day.
Judge Lewis Kaplan has not spoken about plans for Monday.
Here’s an update on another Trump case, from the AP:
The judge overseeing the former president’s 2020 election interference case rjected his lawyers bid to hold special counsel Jack Smith’s team in contempt, after prosecutors turned over thousands of pages of evidence and filing a motion after the judge put the case on hold.
US district judge Tanya Chutkan said in her rulingthat her pausing the case did not “clearly and unambiguously” prohibit the prosecutor’s those actions, but she said no further substantive filings should be submitted until the hold is lifted.
A trial in that case is currently scheduled for 4 March, but will likely be delayed because Trump has appealed a ruling that rejected claims that he was immune to prosectution.
Following the Senate’s passage of a stopgap funding bill shortly before a shutdown deadline on Thursday, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer released the following statement in which he hailed the bill’s passage:
“It’s good news for every American, especially our veterans, parents and children, farmers and small businesses, all of whom would have felt the sting of a shutdown.”
BREAKING NEWS:
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 18, 2024
The Senate has just passed the bill to fund the government and avoid an unnecessary shutdown.
It's good news for every American, especially our veterans, parents and children, farmers and small businesses, all of whom would have felt the sting of a shutdown.
With court currently on a break, here is another update in US politics: third-party centrists across the country have filed a formal complaint over an “alleged unlawful conspiracy” surrounding the 2024 presidential election.
The Guardian’s David Smith reports:
The centrist group No Labels has filed a formal complaint with the justice department, asking it to investigate an “alleged unlawful conspiracy” to shut down its effort to secure ballot access for the 2024 presidential election.
No Labels has not yet decided whether it will run a third party against Joe Biden and the Republican nominee, widely expected to be Donald Trump, in November’s presidential election. Critics say the effort would have the unintended consequence of hurting Biden and helping Trump.
Last week No Labels sent an eight-page letter to the justice department’s Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, and Nicole Argentieri, acting assistant attorney general for the criminal division, accusing its opponents of violating federal law including racketeering and a number of criminal civil rights provisions.
For the full story, click here:
Trump lawyer says client not responsible for Carroll backlash
On cross-examination, Donald Trump’s attorney Michael T Madaio suggested that the ex-president was not responsible for backlash against Carroll – because supporters were likely to believe him, and his denials, anyway.
Madaio asked whether people most likely receptive to Trump’s denials were most likely Trump supporters? Were Trump supporters more likely to believe him?
“Wouldn’t you think that Trump supporters would have already thought Ms. Carroll a liar in her accusations?” he asked. “If they already had an opinion formed on this subject, and they already had an opinion of Ms Carroll, would President Trump have any affect on their opinion?”
“Do you think that those same people would have been unlikely to believe Ms Carroll’s initial allegation?… You agree that people have confirmation bias, right?” he added.
“I believe that confirmation bias can occur in many contexts, yes,” said Humphreys.
Pressed on this, Humphreys said people are “more likely” receptive to information that easily “conforms to their views.”
Updated
Court has resumed.
Ashlee Humphreys is now under cross-examination.
Joe Biden has released the following statement in response to a justice department report which found that the police response to the 2022 Uvalde school shooting in which 21 people were killed “was a failure”:
Today’s report makes clear several things: that there was a failure to establish a clear command and control structure, that law enforcement should have quickly deemed this incident an active shooter situation and responded accordingly, and that clearer and more detailed plans in the school district were required to prepare for the possibility that this could occur.
There were multiple points of failure that hold lessons for the future, and my team will work with the Justice Department and Department of Education to implement policy changes necessary to help communities respond more effectively in the future.
Congress must now pass commonsense gun safety laws to ensure that mass shootings like this one don’t happen in the first place. We need universal background checks, we need a national red flag law, and we must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The families of Uvalde – and all American communities -- deserve nothing less.
Jerry Nadler, a Democratic congressman from New York, is in contact with the FBI and Capitol police about a reported death threat from Roger Stone, a staunch far-right Donald Trump ally.
The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:
“It was a surprise to me. I just found out a few days ago … I saw it on Mediaite,” Nadler told reporters, naming the website which said it obtained audio of the threat and saying he had been in touch with authorities.
The reported threat also mentioned Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who on Wednesday told CNN he also learned of the threat from the Mediaite report.
Speaking before the 2020 presidential election to an associate who was then a serving New York police officer, Stone reportedly said: “It’s time to do it.
“Let’s go find Swalwell. It’s time to do it. Then we’ll see how brave the rest of them are. It’s time to do it. It’s either Nadler or Swalwell has to die before the election. They need to get the message. Let’s go find Swalwell and get this over with. I’m just not putting up with this shit any more.”
For the full story, click here:
Court is currently on break and will resume at around 1.50pm.
We will bring you the latest updates once court is back in session.
Updated
Expert says restoring Carroll's reputation could cost up to $12.1m
Ashlee Humphreys calculated that up to 24.7m of these impressions were associated with likely belief in Donald Trump’s statements.
To restore Carroll’s reputation by putting out corrective messaging in relation to the 2019 statements, Humphreys estimated, it could cost from $7.2m to $12.1m.
Attorney Shawn Crowley, who was questioning Humphreys, asked how a person’s reputation is impacted when the same negative claim is repeated – especially by a prominent source.
Updated
Ashlee Humphreys said that she studied how many people Donald Trump’s June 2019 statements reached.
She studied 47 online news articles that cited his 21 June and 22 June 2019 denials.
Humphreys determined that these publications’ websites had 13.2m impressions – that is, unique visitors on a particular day – related to these articles.
As for social media impressions, Humphreys said that her low estimate was just over 7 million and her high estimate was more than 25m. With television, Humphreys calculated that Trump’s statements reached 63.1m; print newspapers reached more than 2.83m.
Humphreys estimated that the total number of times Trump’s statements were viewed ranged from some 85.8m to 104.1m.
Updated
Ashlee Humphreys, a Northwestern University marketing professor, has taken the witness stand.
Humphreys’ testimony could help put a dollar amount on the reputational harm Carroll endured because of Donald Trump’s comments. Humphreys provided testimony in Carroll’s first trial against Trump, but her presence in this trial could be quite perilous to him.
She testified in two Georgia ex-election workers’ defamation trial against Trump’s crony, Rudy Giuliani.
Those former election workers won $148m in the suit. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy protection following the conclusion of that case.
Updated
Here are some court sketches coming through the newswires of E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against Donald Trump:
Updated
E Jean Carroll is now on redirect examination.
Carroll’s lawyer is now asking her questions again.
Updated
Summary
Cross-examination in E Jean Carroll’s defamation case against Donald Trump is now over. Here are the key developments from this morning:
Trump’s lead attorney Alina Habba tried to cast doubt on the threats Carroll faced as a result of Trump’s public remarks about her. Citing derogatory tweets directed towards Carroll, Habba asked whether Carroll agrees that the tweets are “not necessarily tied” to Trump’s statements. Carroll said, “Some of the tweets are definitely tied to the president’s statement.”
Cross-examination also took a turn for the absurd when Habba pointed to a 2013 tweet in which Carroll referred to penile functions. “You left that on your Twitter account as we stand here today, correct” asked Habba, to which Carroll answered in the affirmative.
Habba also appeared to suggest that Carroll had not suffered as a result of Trump’s comments, pointing to TV appearances as an example. “So, your reputation in many ways is better today isn’t it Ms Carroll?” said Habba. “No, my status was lowered. I’m partaking in this trial to bring my old reputation and status back,” replied Carroll.
Updated
Alina Habba concluded her cross-examination by suggesting that E J Carroll had not suffered because of Donald Trump’s comments – didn’t she have opportunities like having a Substack and TV appearances? Was she making more money? Was she better known?
“So, your reputation in many ways is better today isn’t it Ms Carroll?” said Habba.
“No, my status was lowered. I’m partaking in this trial to bring my old reputation and status back,” replied Carroll.
“So, you sued Donald Trump to bring your old reputation back?” said Habba.
“Yeah,” replied Carroll.
Cross examination in E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against Donald Trump is now over.
Carroll is now off the stand.
Updated
As Alina Habba hammered on about sexual commentary on E Jean Carroll’s social media accounts (the former Elle columnist has written about sex and relationships for years), questioning took a turn for the absurd.
“Ms Carroll, what does this say: ‘What CAN be done about the penis? It gets large when you want it small, and stays small when you want it large,’” Habba asked, showing a 2013 tweet.
What CAN be done about the penis? It gets large when you want it small, and stays small when you want it large.
— E. Jean Carroll (@ejeancarroll) March 6, 2013
“Those were your words, correct?”
“Yes,” Carroll said.
“And you posted them on a public social media account?”
“Yes.”
“And you left that on your Twitter account as we stand here today, correct?”
Carroll answered in the affirmative.
Pressed to explain the tweet, Carroll said: “It’s a philosophical question… Sometimes a woman doesn’t feel like making love and the man wants to,” Carroll explained, and sometimes it’s the reverse.
“You discussed penises?” Habba said.
Carroll said “yes.”
Updated
Trump lawyer suggests E Jean Carroll death threats had nothing to do with Trump
Alina Habba, Trump’s lead attorney, tried in cross-examination to sow doubt over the threats against E Jean Carroll, who said she did not report them to police.
“So as [you] sit here today, I have no way of knowing how many death threats you have received, nor do the police?” said Habba.
On the second day of cross-examination, Habba tried to prove that online backlash resulting from the article was not Trump’s doing, as some people posted tweets before his denial. Among those tweets was: “You’re a joke, no one would willingly touch your ugly ass.”
“Wouldn’t you agree that negative tweets are not necessarily tied to president Trump’s statements, Ms Carroll?” said Habba.
“Some negative tweets are definitely tied to the president’s statement,” replied Carroll.
“And why do you think that?” said Habba.
“Because they follow president Trump and they want to emulate him,” replied Carroll.
Habba also tried to discredit Carroll by intimating that she has loose morals. “Did you ever post any tweets that could be considered sexually explicit?” she said.
Carroll’s team objected. Judge Lewis Kaplan sustained the objection.
Updated
E Jean Carroll’s direct testimony detailed how Donald Trump’s 2019 denials – while he was still president, giving him the world’s most prominent platform – not only destroyed her reputation, but spurred a deluge of online hate and threats against her.
“The thing that really got me about this was, from the White House, he asked if anyone had any information about me, and if they did, to please come forward as soon as possible, because he wanted the world to know what’s really going on – and that people like me should pay dearly,” Carroll told jurors.
Carroll’s team presented some of these missives.
“I hope you die soon. I hope someone really does attack, rape and murder you,” one message shown in court stated. Another read: “Rape Jean rape Jean.”
Here are some images coming through the newswires from E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against Donald Trump:
Updated
E Jean Carroll cross-examination resumes
Cross examination in E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against Donald Trump has resumed.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates.
Updated
Throughout yesterday’s trial, Donald Trump did not hold back his outbursts as E Jean Carroll delivered her testimony.
Victoria Bekiempis, who was in the courtroom, reports for the Guardian:
As Carroll spoke, Trump complained audibly and appeared to double down on defamatory denials, her lawyer said during a morning break in the proceedings.
“Mr Trump has been sitting at the back table and has been loudly saying things throughout Ms Carroll’s testimony,” said attorney Shawn Crowley.
“It’s loud enough for us to hear it,” Crowley said, so “I imagine it’s loud enough for the jury to hear it.”
Before court resumed after the break, judge Lewis Kaplan cautioned: “I’m just going to ask Mr Trump to take special care to keep his voice down when conferring with counsel, so that the jury does not overhear.”
Trump did not heed Kaplan’s instruction and, before the lunch break, Crowley brought up his comments again.
“The defendant has been making statements again [that] we can hear at counsel table,” Crowley said.
“He said it is a ‘witch-hunt’, it really is a con-job.”
For the full story, click here:
Updated
In another post on Truth Social, Donald Trump announced his arrival to West Palm Beach on Thursday for the funeral of his late mother-in-law, Amaljia Knavs.
“Today will be devoted to the funeral (Celebration!!!) of a GREAT WOMAN, ‘Babi,’ the Beloved Mother of Melania and Grandmother of Barron — And what a Woman she was!!!” Trump wrote.
He added that he will return to New Hampshire over the weekend where he vowed to hold “big rallies.”
Trump’s legal team has tried to delay the E Jean Carroll trial for Knav’s funeral but judge Lewis Kaplan refused. Kaplan said that Trump would be allowed to testify next Monday if he is unable to appear in court on Thursday.
Updated
Following yesterday’s trial, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to once again rant about E Jean Carroll, her legal team and judge Lewis Kaplan, calling the case a “ridiculous hoax.”
In a fiery post on his social media platform, Trump wrote:
“The whole story is a MADE UP & DISGUSTING HOAX! Like the now fully discredited RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, & all of the others, this one is also conceived, funded, & carried out by Democrat Political Operatives like her lawyer (who I just beat in another SCAM case!) his one is also conceived, funded, & carried out by Democrat Political Operatives like her lawyer (who I just beat in another SCAM case!)…”
Updated
E Jean Carroll to continue testimony in second defamation trial against Trump
E Jean Carroll is set to testify again on Thursday as part of her civil defamation trial against Donald Trump.
Carroll’s testimony will follow testy exchanges involving the ex president, his attorney Alina Habba and US district judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday.
Throughout Carroll’s testimony in which she said, “I’m here because Donald Trump assaulted me…he lied and it shattered my reputation,” Trump loudly complained about the case. Trump’s audible grumbling caused Carroll’s legal team to argue that the ex president was being loud enough for the jury to potentially hear his remarks.
Kaplan, a no-nonsense judge, repeatedly warned Trump to refrain from disrupting the court and at one point threatened to kick him out of the trial. In response, Trump said, “I would love it, I would love it.”
Trump is back in Florida on Thursday to attend the funeral of his late mother-in-law Amaljia Knavs who died last week at 78-years old. Trump’s legal team has tried to delay the trial for the funeral, which Kaplan refused.
Here are other developments in US politics:
The House is set to convene today in attempts to find Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress.
California’s governor Gavin Newsom has vowed to block a proposed ban on tackle football for children under 12, expressing concern over their health and safety.
Senate Democrats are condemning Republicans’ “cruel” abortion bans ahead of the 51st anniversary of Roe v Wade.
Updated
