- By Brandon Livesay and Madeline Halpert
- Reporting from court in New York
Donald Trump gestures to his supporters as he heads to court on Friday morning
A New York jury has begun deliberations in defamation proceedings brought against Donald Trump by the writer and columnist E Jan Carroll.
The billionaire has already been found to have defamed Ms Carroll for comments he made about her in 2019 while he was president.
But a jury is now deciding how much Mr Trump must pay in any damages.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump stood up and walked out of court during the prosecution’s closing arguments.
He later returned to hear his own lawyer’s final arguments in the case.
Mr Trump has continued to regularly deny any wrongdoing and even knowing Ms Carroll.
A civil trial last year found Mr Trump had sexually assaulted Ms Carroll, a magazine columnist, in a New York department store in the 1990s. That jury also found him liable for defamation for calling her accusations a lie – and he was ordered to pay her about $5m (£4m) in damages.
This case is focused on different defamatory comments made by Mr Trump in 2019. Ms Carroll’s lawyers are asking for $24m (£18m) in compensation damages – made up of $12m for reputational harm and $12m for emotional harm.
This is more money than they asked for in the first trial because Ms Carroll argued that his comments as a sitting president hurt her more.
As well as those compensatory damages, the jury also has to decide whether Mr Trump “acted maliciously, out of hatred, ill will, or spite, vindictively, or in wanton, reckless or wilful disregard of Ms Carroll’s rights”.
If they say he did, they will then come up with a figure of how much he should pay in punitive damages.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump stood up and left court during closing arguments, after shaking his head as lawyer Roberta Kaplan repeatedly brought up that Mr Trump had sexually assaulted Ms Carroll.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Ms Carroll’s lawyer, told the court that the record “will reflect that Mr Trump rose and walked out of the courtroom”.
E Jean Carroll outside court in Manhattan, New York City, on Friday
During Ms Kaplan’s closing arguments, she told the court that Ms Carroll’s reputation had been severely harmed by the former president’s comments denying he sexually assaulted her.
“This case is also about punishing Donald Trump… This trial is about getting him to stop once and for all,” she said.
She said that Mr Trump had “continued to defame Ms Carroll even as this trial was ongoing”.
Mr Trump has continued to repeat his claim that he had never met Ms Carroll – including on Friday morning on social media before court, when he posted: “I don’t even know who this woman is – I have no idea who she is, or where she came from. This is another scam… it’s a political witch hunt.”
Later in court, Mr Trump was seen shaking his head and grimacing, as prosecution lawyer Shawn Crowley pointed at Mr Trump and called him a liar, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
“They want you to decide that it’s Ms Carroll’s fault, that somehow Donald Trump is a victim,” Mr Crowley said, and Mr Trump seemed to nod his head.
Mr Crowley urged the jury to come up with a figure of damages that will “make him stop” attacking his client.
In her closing arguments on Friday, Mr Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba argued the jury should award Ms Carroll no damages, saying her arguments have “more holes than Swiss cheese”.
She said Mr Trump “should not have to pay” for threats made on Twitter against Ms Carroll, adding: “He does not condone them. He did not direct them.”
Ms Carroll’s lawyers previously told the court that Mr Trump’s statements unleashed a torrent of death threats, rape threats, and online vitriol towards her.
But Ms Habba said Carroll hadn’t proved “causation” between Trump’s statement and the harassment Ms Carroll received.
Ms Habba added: “There are two versions of E Jean Carroll. The truth, which her friend knew and testified about, and the one who comes to court to get my client’s money.”
She also cited statements and test messages in which Carroll said she was feeling “fabulous” and “buoyant” after the allegations were made public, CBS News reported.
Before starting her final arguments, Ms Habba tried to introduce social media tweets that were not already in evidence, but the judge would not allow it.
After a fiery back-and-forth, Judge Kaplan said: “Ms Habba, you are on the verge of spending some time in the lock-up, now sit down”.
Ms Habba, who has repeatedly traded barbs with the judge during this civil defamation trial, was heard swearing under her breath away from the microphone as she sat down, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
