Trump and Carroll arrive at Manhattan courthouse
Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the federal courthouse in Manhattan.
E Jean Carroll has also been pictured arriving at the courthouse.
Key events
Victoria Bekiempis
With Carroll’s camp officially resting, Trump’s team is beginning the defense case.
Habba said:
Defense calls Carol Martin to the stand, please.
If Trump actually testifies, as he claimed he would, he would do so after Martin’s testimony ends.
Defense to call Carol Martin to the stand
Victoria Bekiempis
Trump’s lead attorney, Alina Habba, said that the defense’s first witness will be Carol Martin.
Martin is a friend of Carroll’s and a former anchor at WCBS-TV in New York, who has publicly corroborated the writer’s allegations of sexual assault by Donald Trump.
During the first defamation trial against Trump last May, Martin said Carroll visited her within two days of Trump’s alleged attack. She described Carroll as “clearly agitated, anxious”.
Martin said she advised Carroll to keep quiet about the alleged assault. She said:
I just volunteered that she shouldn’t do anything because it was Donald Trump and he had a lot of attorneys and he would just bury her.
Martin said she “kept the covenant” not to talk about what Carroll had told her for many years until the advice columnist went public with her accusations against Trump in 2019.
Asked what she made of Carroll’s claim that Trump attacked her, Martin said:
I believed it then and I believe it today.
Victoria Bekiempis
The plaintiff rests.
Donald Trump’s lawyers are up next.
Victoria Bekiempis
We’re now on a short break.
Carroll’s team said they’re about to rest.
They said that Donald Trump’s team expects to call two witnesses, and he’s one of them.
Can Trump’s courtroom antics be contained?
Cameron Joseph
It’s not like the judges in his cases haven’t tried to curtail Donald Trump’s court theatrics. But they are in a bind: treating Trump like any other defendant and enforcing order in their courtrooms plays into his claims of political persecution.
The judge in the New York business fraud case, Arthur Engoron, ordered Trump to pay a $110,000 fine back in 2022 for dragging his feet in responding to a subpoena from the New York state attorney general. (He paid, but appealed the ruling; the money is being held in escrow until a final ruling is made.)
Last October, Engoron placed a gag order on Trump barring him from attacking court staff, fined him $5,000 for violating it when Trump publicly disparaged a court staffer, and warned him that a future violation could result in jail time. Trump ignored the warning and did it again; Engoron responded with a $10,000 fine and a warning of, “Don’t do it again, or it will be worse” – but no jail time. The Trump team’s response was to put out a statement calling Engoron a “Democrat Judge, under control of radical [New York Democratic attorney general] Letitia James”.
In Trump’s pending January 6 case in DC, the judge, Tanya Chutkan, placed a gag order on Trump last fall barring him from attacking prosecutors, court staff and potential trial witnesses after he posted inflammatory statements that called special counsel Jack Smith “deranged” and suggested his former chief of staff and a possible witness in the trial, Mark Meadows, was a coward.
Trump has appealed the order, but the federal appeals court has declined to lift it. The latest decision came on Tuesday, when the full appeals court unanimously refused to reconsider Trump’s request. He’s likely to appeal that to the US supreme court. But so far, there have been few signs he can win this particular fight.
Cameron Joseph
The biggest question in E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against Donald Trump isn’t whether Trump will be found liable (he already was) or even how much he’ll have to pay her (it could be a lot).
It’s how he’ll behave – and what, if anything, the judge can do to rein him in.
The last time Trump was in court, he grumbled so loudly from his seat that the judge, Lewis Kaplan, warned him he could be kicked out of court. “Mr Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited, and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive,” he said. “Mr Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial.”
“I would love it. I would love it,” Trump replied, apparently goading the judge to land on him hard so he could use it for political fodder.
It’s hard to think of how Trump could show more contempt (in the emotional, not legal, sense) for the multiple cases against him. He has repeatedly insulted and attacked prosecutors, judges and witnesses, and has clearly decided to make a spectacle of himself showing up unannounced when he isn’t required.
His claims of a “witch-hunt” have become a staple in his campaign speeches. On Tuesday, during his victory speech after winning the New Hampshire primary, he said: “Just a little note to Nikki. She’s not going to win. But if she did, she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes.”
Jury shown video of Trump confusing Carroll with ex-wife in deposition
Victoria Bekiempis
Carroll’s team is now showing jurors various exhibits including a television appearance where Donald Trump repeated a denial and an excerpt of a video deposition where he’s boasting about his wealth.
Earlier this month, Trump appeared in a courtroom in the civil case brought by New York attorney general Letitia James, who has argued the former president and his business associates should pay $370m for decades of financial fraud.
Carroll’s camp played one of the most shocking deposition excerpts of Trump, in which he mistook a photo of Carroll for his ex-wife, Marla Maples. This was also played in Carroll’s first trial against the ex-president.
Here’s the video clip of Trump’s deposition where he mistook a picture of Carroll for Maples:
Trump attorney suggests Carroll’s former boss is biased
Victoria Bekiempis
Trump’s lead attorney, Alina Habba, began her cross of Robbie Myers by suggesting that she was biased.
“You didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016, right?” Habba asked. “Or in 2020? You don’t plan on voting for him in 2024, do you?”
The cross is done. There is no re-direct, and Carroll’s team just said they don’t have any more witnesses.
Carroll’s team is now introducing some evidence so they have not officially wrapped yet.
Carroll’s former editor tells court that writer did not tell her of sexual assault
Victoria Bekiempis
Carroll’s team’s questioning of Robbie Myers was meant to establish that she had a respected role at the magazine and as a journalist.
Myers said that Carroll was a talented “truth-teller” and so popular that Elle considered her a destination for readers – that they liked her so much they would pick up the magazine and immediately flip to her column.
Myers said Carroll was so good and popular that she decided to give her a raise.
“I think her column was sort of the leader of the pack,” Myers said of Carroll’s writing and how her column inspired others to launch similar series.
Carroll’s team also tried to establish that Myers didn’t have a deep personal relationship with Carroll.
“Did she ever tell you about her personal life?” Myers said “no.”
Asked, “did she ever tell you she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump,” Myers also responded “no.”
Carroll’s former editor Robbie Myers takes the stand
Victoria Bekiempis
Robbie Myers, E Jean Carroll’s former editor, is being questioned about her work history.
She described a 30-year magazine career which, in addition to helming Elle, included stints at Rolling Stone and Interview.
She also said in court that she had previously met Donald Trump. It was “when I was on an episode of Celebrity Apprentice. I was there as an editor of Elle to present what was known as a challenge to apprentices”.
She said she met him on the first day of filming.
Trial resumes
Victoria Bekiempis
Donald Trump is in the courtroom.
The jurors in seats two and three are going to be socially distanced “out of an abundance of caution,” judge Kaplan said.
E Jean Carroll’s team is now calling Roberta “Robbie” Myers, her former editor.
Trump lashes out at Carroll in dozens of overnight posts just hours before trial
Donald Trump spent the hours before E Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial against him was set to resume on Thursday posting inflammatory messages on his Truth Social site attacking the writer.
The former president posted more than 35 times about Carroll overnight on Thursday, sharing a mix of rants, videos, and old social media posts and interviews with her.
“I’m heading back to New York City for a trial based on False Accusations, from perhaps decades ago – The woman has no idea when!” he wrote, referring to Carroll.
Trump and Carroll arrive at Manhattan courthouse
Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the federal courthouse in Manhattan.
E Jean Carroll has also been pictured arriving at the courthouse.
Victoria Bekiempis
The possible courtroom showdown between Donald Trump and E Jean Carroll was initially expected to unfold on Monday. A juror fell ill with Covid symptoms en route to the courthouse, however, derailing proceedings.
Carroll’s lead attorney, Roberta Kaplan, argued that proceedings should continue without this juror. It was subsequently revealed in court, however, that Trump’s team had been exposed to Covid.
Trump’s lead attorney in this case, Alina Habba, said that she had been present at a dinner with her parents several days prior and that at least one of them had come down with Covid. Habba on Monday claimed to feel under the weather.
The judge agreed to postpone proceedings until Tuesday so that parties on Carroll’s case, as well as jurors, could take Covid tests. Habba then pointed out that Trump, who was going to testify, would be busy campaigning on Tuesday, and asked for another postponement. Habba said:
My client reminded me, and I am in trial mode, I apologize, so tomorrow is the New Hampshire primary, and he needs to be in New Hampshire. He was planning to testify. Clearly, he flew in last night to be here. I would just need his testimony to be Wednesday in light of the news about the juror today.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would not decide immediately. Later that day, a court filing revealed that proceedings would be postponed until Wednesday.
A court filing on Tuesday indicated proceedings would be postponed yet again until Thursday. No explanation for either postponement was given.
Donald Trump has been pictured waving to supporters this morning as he departed Trump Tower to make his way to the Manhattan federal courthouse in New York.
Donald Trump is expected to attend today’s Manhattan federal court proceedings and could be called to the stand to testify.
The former president attended trial proceedings on two days last week including on 17 January, when the former Elle writer described how his 2019 denials of her rape claim smeared her reputation. Carroll’s testimony marked the first time she confronted him in a courtroom.
Trump reacted to Carroll’s testimony with repeated outbursts, prompting the judge, Lewis Kaplan, to warn that the ex-president would be booted from court if he refused to behave. Trump’s response was to taunt the judge, setting the stage for another potential showdown between the veteran jurist and the bombastic 2024 Republican presidential candidate.
E Jean Carroll defamation trial against Donald Trump to resume
Welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of E Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, where the pair could face off once again in the Manhattan federal court after a Covid-19 scare forced a last-minute delay on Monday.
This ongoing trial is Carroll’s second defamation case against Trump. A jury in May found the former US president liable of sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5m in damages.
Carroll claimed Trump raped her around late 1995 or 1996, in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store. She went public with her claim in 2019 when a portion of her book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, was published in New York magazine.
Carroll first sued Trump in 2019 over his subsequent denials. She sued him again in 2022 when New York’s Adult Survivors Act allowed her to file suit over the sexual assault and defamatory statements he made when no longer president.
That second lawsuit went to trial this spring. The judge, Lewis Kaplan, determined that the jury’s findings – that he sexually abused and defamed her – would be accepted as fact in this trial. This means the jury is only weighing damages.
The trial is expected to get under way at about 9.30am Eastern time.
