Trump begins testifying at E. Jean Carroll defamation trial

Jean Carroll's lawsuit claiming he should pay millions of dollars for defaming and sexually abusing her. Trump began testifying after Carroll's lawyers finished their case, and the judge rejected his bid to dismiss the civil lawsuit.

Donald Trump took the witness stand on Thursday to defend against the writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit claiming he should pay millions of dollars for defaming and sexually abusing her.

Trump began testifying after Carroll's lawyers finished their case, and the judge rejected his bid to dismiss the civil lawsuit. Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, is seeking at least $10 million over Trump's June 2019 denials that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.

Last May, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after he denied her rape claim in October 2022. Before Trump began testifying, Kaplan warned Trump and his legal team not to relitigate issues decided in the first trial, saying he had "cause for concern" and that he would not allow "do-overs by disappointed litigants."

Outside the jury's presence, Trump could be heard repeating that he had not known Carroll, saying, "I don't know who this woman is" and "I never met this woman.' Kaplan then told Trump: "I'm sorry, Mr. Trump, you're interrupting these proceedings by talking loudly."

Carroll has testified that Trump's denials destroyed her reputation as a trustworthy journalist, and that she has received many death threats.