Trump begins his defense at E. Jean Carroll defamation trial

Donald Trump is expected to take 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's legal team began presenting the former U.S. president's defense after Carroll's lawyers finished their case, and the judge rejected Trump's bid to dismiss the civil lawsuit. Carroll 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.

The former Elle magazine advice columnist testified that the denials destroyed her reputation as a trustworthy journalist, and that she has received many death threats. Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing, claiming he had not known Carroll despite photos showing them together, and accusing her of making up the rape to boost sales of her memoir.

His lawyers have also argued that Carroll sought out and has enjoyed fame and adulation from coming forward. They have also said it was the publication of book excerpts in New York magazine, and not Trump's subsequent comments, that caused people to brand Carroll a liar.

The trial has become part of Trump's campaign to retake the White House in the November election, with the Republican frontrunner shuttling between the courtroom and campaign stops while criticizing Carroll, the judge and the judicial process online and at press conferences. Last May, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after he denied her rape claim in October 2022.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has presided at both trials, has ruled that the first trial established that Trump defamed and sexually abused Carroll. The only issues for the nine jurors in the current trial is how much money Trump should pay Carroll, if any, for damaging her reputation, and whether he owes additional sums as punishment and to keep him from defaming her again.

CARROLL'S FRIEND TESTIFIES Carol Martin, a former TV news anchor and a close friend of Carroll, was the defense's first witness, with Trump's lawyer Alina Habba trying to show jurors that Carroll enjoyed her newfound fame.

Martin acknowledged having sent texts describing Carroll as being like "Santa at a Christmas parade" and "like a drug addict and the drug is herself," but said she regretted using hyperbole. "She is adapting to the change in her life," Martin said. "'Enjoying' is a multifaceted word."

Martin had testified on Carroll's behalf at last year's trial. Under questioning from one of her lawyers, Martin said she no qualms about Carroll's motives. "What she always wanted was to have her day in court," Martin said.

Carroll's final witness, former Elle Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers, testified earlier that she had viewed Carroll as a "truth-teller" whose empathy and sense of humor made her "so important" to the Elle brand. Lawyers for Carroll also showed jurors excerpts from an October 2022 deposition, during which Trump stood by his denials and branded Carroll "mentally sick."

A damages expert testified on Carroll's behalf last week that the reputational damage from Trump's 2019 comments could be as high as $12.1 million. Trump's legal team has said damages should be nominal or zero. WARNING TO TRUMP

Last week, Kaplan warned Trump not to use the courtroom to air political grievances, after one of Carroll's lawyers complained that jurors might have overheard Trump calling the case a "witch hunt" and "con job." The judge has spent 29 years on the federal bench. He is known for his no-nonsense approach and for expressing impatience with lawyers and witnesses who don't follow his instructions.

Kaplan could interrupt or shut down Trump's testimony, or throw him out of the courtroom, if Trump spoke out of turn or digressed the issues the jury will consider. On Jan. 11, when another judge asked Trump if he could stick to the facts if allowed to give a closing statement in the New York attorney general's civil fraud case against him, Trump responded by attacking the judge and proclaiming the case a politically inspired sham.