Trump stands by his testimony in E Jean Carroll defamation case
Donald Trump has repeated his denial that he sexually assaulted E Jean Carroll nearly 30 years ago during his four-minute defence testimony heard at a court in New York.
The former US President, 77, took to the witness stand to give his defence in the case, which is being held to establish how much in damages he should pay Ms Carroll.
Ms Carroll, 80, was previously awarded $5 million after a jury found last year he had sexually abused and subsequently defamed her.
She is now seeking at least $10 million in compensation. Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing and has appealed the jury’s verdicts and all rulings against him.
During the hearing at Manhattan’s federal court today, Ms Carroll’s lawyers played video excerpts from the deposition, in which Mr Trump called the former Elle magazine advice columnist “mentally sick” and a “whack job,” and threatened to sue her after she said he sexually abused her in a dressing room of a luxury department store in the 1990s.
“It’s a false accusation, never happened, never would happen,” Mr Trump said in the deposition, which was recorded in October 2022.
Later in the afternoon, Mr Trump briefly took to the stand where he was asked if he stood by his comments in the deposition.
He said: “100%”, before going on to add further comments that were stricken from the record by the judge.
They included Mr Trump stating that Ms Carroll “said something [he] considering a false accusation” and that he “just wanted to defend myself, my family and frankly, the presidency.”
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan previously told Mr Trump before he took to the stand that he was not allowed to give any evidence or dispute the previously made determinations that he sexually assaulted Ms Carroll or defamed her while giving his defence in the case.
Ms Carroll claims Mr Trump ruined her reputation with his criticism of her on social media after she accused him for the first time publicly in a memoir.
The court previously heard Mr Trump “used the world’s biggest microphone to attack Ms. Carroll, to humiliate her, and to destroy her reputation.”
The current trial, which heard Ms Carroll’s testimony in an earlier hearing, focuses only on statements Mr Trump made in June 2019 while he was president. It has been delayed for four years due to appeals.
Shortly after her gave his testimony, Mr Trump left the stand and was heard repeatedly saying “This is not America. This is not America. This is not America” as he shook his head and left the courtroom.
The trial has lasted four days, and closing arguments are expected on Friday.
