Trump’s expected testimony has faced repeated delays, building dramatic tension for another turn on the witness stand on Thursday afternoon
Donald Trump lost another bid to throw out a defamation suit by E. Jean Carroll on Thursday, as the former president braces to testify in an effort to limit additional damages on top of a $5 million sexual abuse verdict last year.
“The motion is denied,” senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled, after Carroll’s case wrapped in the morning.
Kaplan made swift work at rejecting Trump attorney Alina Habba’s routine bid to toss Carroll’s case after the plaintiff rested. He previously rejected a request for a mistrial based on Carroll testimony that she may have deleted threats against her after accusing Trump of rape. The judge noted that Carroll had no obligations to preserve the messages at that time, and if she kept them, they would have been helpful to her future case.
Habba insisted that her arguments were being misunderstood.
“Would you like me to clarify?” the Trump lawyer, a frequent conservative TV contributor, asked.
“No,” Kaplan replied.
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Originally slated for Monday, Trump’s expected testimony has faced repeated delays, building dramatic tension for another turn on the witness stand on Thursday afternoon.
Several Trump-world notables were on hand to witness Trump’s testimony, including his longtime advisor Boris Epshteyn, his personal assistant turned classified documents case co-defendant Walt Nauta, and attorney Susan Necheles, who represents the ex-president in his hush money-related prosecution. Nauta passed along water bottles to his Trump-tied peers seated in the gallery.
As the week began, a COVID-19 scare in court benched one of the jurors, and a day later, the former president went on the campaign trail to the New Hampshire primary, where he coasted to victory in a closer-than-expected race against his ex-Ambassador Nikki Haley. Trial proceedings started roughly 30 minutes after its anticipated 9:30 a.m. EST start time on Thursday, raising questions about whether another adjournment was on the horizon.
Minutes before 10 a.m., Judge Kaplan declared court in session, but Trump was nowhere to be seen. Trial testimony began with testimony by Carroll’s former boss Roberta Myers, the ex-editor-in-chief of Elle magazine.
Shortly after she took the stand, Trump walked into court and sat between his attorneys.
"The record will reflect that Mr. Trump is in the courtroom," Kaplan announced for the court reporter.
During her brief testimony, Myers heaped effusive praise That’s where Carroll’s longtime column “Ask E. Jean” ran, and Myers called Carroll a “truth-teller.”
“I thought of her column as a sort of destination,” Myers said, adding that readers would tell her that they turned to Carroll’s contributions first.
Necheles appeared to tune out of Myers testimony, scribbling a series of triangles, circles, and star-like figures in her notebook.
After Myers' testimony wrapped, Carroll’s legal team introduced a string of exhibits showing Trump’s recent sexual-abuse denials and other digs against their client. Last week, Carroll’s attorney Shawn Crowley urged a jury to use such evidence to ratchet up the damages to make Trump stop attacking her.
During the formalistic presentation of post-trial evidence, one of the jurors appeared to nod off until Carroll’s lawyers rolled tape on multiple video depositions of Trump.
One showed the former president boasting about his wealth in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case.
"I think Doral could be worth $2.5 billion by itself," Trump, who stood accused of fraudulently inflating his assets in that case, claimed in April 2023.
Carroll’s legal team might use Trump’s boasts to argue that only a massive judgment could deter him.
Before Trump’s testimony began, Judge Kaplan curtly denied a request to throw out the case. The defense case began with testimony by ex-TV news anchor Carol Martin, who was one of two women Carroll confided her account of what happened inside Bergdorf Goodman at the time.
Martin, a former colleague of Carroll's, worked with her at the short-lived cable network America's Talking, which hosted her show "Ask E. Jean" before the channel shuttered. Trump's testimony is expected to follow in the afternoon.