E Jean Carroll took the witness stand on Wednesday morning in her defamation trial against Donald Trump, marking the first time she has confronted the ex-president in a courtroom. Carroll’s testimony so incensed Trump that he had numerous outbursts, prompting the judge to warn that he could be kicked out of court.
“I’m here because Donald Trump assaulted me, and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened,” Carroll testified. “He lied, and it shattered my reputation.”
When Carroll first took the stand, Trump could be seen whispering to his lead attorney, Alina Habba. He sat with slightly hunched shoulders as Carroll testified.
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.”
Kaplan said: “Mr Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited, and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which is what has been reported to me, and if he disregards court orders.
“Mr Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial … I understand you are probably very eager for me to do that.”
“I would love it, I would love it,” Trump said and gestured.
“I know you would, you just can’t control yourself in this circumstance, apparently.”
“You can’t either.”
Following Carroll’s initial remarks, one of her attorneys, Roberta Kaplan, asked the former Elle columnist questions about her career. Jurors heard how Carroll ascended from writing articles for high-profile publications to landing the columnist position, as well as a talkshow and authoring multiple books.
Carroll is suing Trump over his June 2019 denials of her rape claim against him. This trial will determine damages.
This week’s proceedings mark Carroll’s second defamation trial against Trump. In May, a jury found the former US president liable of sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5m in damages.
Carroll said Trump raped her almost three decades ago, in the changing room of an upscale Manhattan department store. She came forward with her account in 2019 when an excerpt from her book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, ran in New York magazine.
Trump, who was in the White House when Carroll’s claim surfaced, quickly attacked, saying: “I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book – that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section.” Carroll sued him in 2019, maintaining that Trump’s denials smeared her reputation, sparking online abuse and serious threats.
During her testimony, Carroll explained the chain of events that unfolded after the excerpt ran. Carroll said she had never told anyone publicly about the incident.
Carroll said she expected him to respond, but not in the way that he did.
“I expected him to deny it, but to say it was consensual, when it was not. But that’s what I expected him to say.”
Is that what Trump did?
“No,” Carroll said.
Roberta Kaplan referred to the language in Trump’s denials.
“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,” she said.
Carroll described the barrage of threats received in the years since Trump’s comments.
“I hope you die soon. I hope someone really does attack, rape and murder you,” one missive presented in court stated.
Another simply said: “Rape Jean rape jean.”
Carroll described the methods she has taken to protect herself at her home in upstate New York. She bought a pit bull who goes leash-less on her property.
“He now patrols very eagerly and enthusiastically,” Carroll said. She also purchased bullets for the gun that had belonged to her father.
Roberta Kaplan asked Carroll where she kept the gun.
“By my bed,” Carroll said.
Much of Carroll’s testimony detailed Trump’s continuing to make statements about her after he was found liable of sexual abuse and defamation. This relates to jurors’ decision on damages, as they must determine a sum that would deter him from making similar statements.
Habba’s cross-examination of Carroll bounced between themes. She questioned Carroll on the deletion of threats, suggesting that the extent was not great.
Habba said: “So as [you] sit here today, I have no way of knowing how many death threats you have received, nor do the police?”
Habba also tried to discredit Carroll by noting that the gun she has for protection is not registered.
Habba’s cross-examination resumes on Thursday.
Carroll was initially not able to sue Trump for sexual assault, because the incident fell outside the civil statute of limitations. But in 2022, New York state’s Adult Survivors Act gave adult victims of sexual misconduct a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers for incidents outside this statute of limitations.
Carroll sued Trump once again, this time citing sexual assault and defamation claims for statements Trump made when he was no longer president. Judge Kaplan determined the key facts in that case would be accepted in this second trial – Trump cannot relitigate Carroll’s rape claim.
Crowley, for Carroll, said in her opening that jurors needed to impose damages that would stop Trump from continuing to smear her client.
“He is continuing to tell these lies to this very day – earlier this month, last week, even today. You will hear that as Donald Trump faces trial over how much money it will take to get him to stop defaming Ms Carroll, he keeps doing it. He sat in this courthouse. You saw him,” Crowley said.
“At the end of this trial, it will be your job to decide how much money Donald Trump should pay for what he’s done to Ms Carroll, and how much money he should pay, it will take, to get him to stop defaming her, so that Ms Carroll can maybe, finally, live her life in peace,” Crowley said.
“We submit that that number should be significant. Very significant. Donald Trump, after all, is a self-proclaimed billionaire.”
