Trump’s trial in E. Jean Carroll defamation case begins

Donald Trump attended the first day of his civil defamation trial, watching as a jury was selected to determine how much, if any, damages the former president must pay to E. Jean Carroll for his 2019 defamatory statements about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.

Trump’s courthouse attendance Tuesday — where he attended jury selection but did not speak — came one day after his resounding Iowa caucuses win, yet another illustration of how Trump’s campaign and legal fortunes are intertwined.

Trump watched as prospective jurors were asked about their political donations to him and his political opponents, whether they believed the 2020 election was stolen and how they got their news. He left court before opening statements to travel to New Hampshire for a campaign event Tuesday evening with the primary one week away.

Here are takeaways from the first day of the defamation trial:

In this courtroom sketch, former president Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll attend jury selection in the second civil trial after Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York City, on January 16.

Former President Donald Trump’s defamation trial has wrapped for the day following jury selection and opening statements.

E. Jean Carroll is expected to testify Wednesday. The trial’s jury is considering how much to award her in damages for defamatory statements Trump made in 2019 about her sexual assault allegations.

Donald Trump attorney Alina Habba said in her opening statement that E. Jean Carroll’s career has prospered since she went forward with her sexual assault allegations, arguing that Carroll was trying to seek “a windfall” over “mean tweets.”

“The other side will attempt to paint Ms. Carroll as someone who lost everything because President Trump stood up and defended himself when he was publicly accused of assault,” Habba said. But in reality, Trump’s lawyer argued, “Her career has prospered, and she has been thrust back into the limelight like she always has wanted.”

Carroll turned around in her chair to look at Habba when she made the statement. Habba told the jury to remember, “This case is not about assault. We had that case. This case is about the defamation.” Carroll waited for the opportune time to maximize coverage, Trump’s lawyer claimed.

“Now she wants President Trump to pay for the risks she took for the way she did this,” Habba said of Carroll. “She wants President Trump to pay for the mean tweets.”

Habba also made a point to stress that this case is about only two statements made by Trump in 2019 — not all the other statements he continues to make more recently that Crowley referenced in her opening.

“Here she is looking for you to give her a windfall because some people on social media said mean things about her,” Habba added. “But in today’s day and age, the internet always has something to say, and it’s not always going to be nice. Imagine if every time a public person got a mean tweet, they could get money.”

Carroll doesn’t want to change her reputation, Habba argued, “She likes her new brand.” “Her alleged emotional harm did not stop her from going on TV again and again and again.”

A lawyer for E. Jean Carroll urged the jury to award a “very significant” amount in damages to her client.

Nine jurors will decide how much money in damages — if any — former President Donald Trump must pay to the magazine columnist for his defamatory statements about her sexual assault allegations made in 2019. Carroll is seeking more than $10 million in damages.

Crowley said that the damages “number should be significant, very significant.”

Crowley argued that Trump has ruined Carroll’s reputation and caused her to “live every day of her life in fear of the hate and the threats that she gets from his followers.”

E. Jean Carroll listens as lawyer Alina Habba argues with Judge Lewis Kaplan during jury selection at Manhattan Federal Court in New York City, on January 16.

E. Jean Carroll’s lawyers say that she plans to testify about how she now lives in fear during the defamation damages trial against former President Donald Trump.

“She’s afraid, she’s afraid that someday somebody’s going to make good on their threats,” Carroll lawyer Shawn Crowley said during opening statements on Tuesday.

Crowley said not only did Trump’s comments “destroy her sense of safety” but they also damaged her professional reputation and writing, and television appearances largely dried up.

“Much of that was ruined when Donald Trump went after her,” Crowley said, adding that Trump’s attacks on her client continue to this day.

The lawyer said Trump “posted more defamatory statements, more lies about Ms. Carroll and this case” while he was in the courthouse Tuesday morning.

“By our last count, 22 posts just today. Think about that. Think about that when you consider how much money it will take Donald Trump to stop,” Crowley said.

Trump’s lawyers may use television appearances to argue that Carroll was drawing attention to herself, but Crowley told the jury not to let it sway them.

Shawn Crowley, an attorney for E. Jean Carroll, began his opening statement in Donald Trump’s defamation trial by telling the jury that a previous jury already found that the former president had sexually assaulted Carroll.

“Donald Trump sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll. He managed to get her alone in an empty department store one evening and sexually assaulted her. That’s a fact,” Crowley said. “That fact has been proven and a jury sitting in the exact seats where you’re sitting now found that it happened.”

Crowley said Trump’s defamatory statements about the 1990s assault more than two decades later upended Carroll’s life.

Carroll’s lawyer said Trump’s statements “unleashed his followers” and caused Carroll to receive threats, saying that she should go to jail and that “she should die because she had the courage to speak out about what Donald Trump had done to her.” Crowley said that Carroll will testify tomorrow.

Donald Trump has departed the Manhattan federal courthouse and is on his way to a New Hampshire event ahead of next week’s primary.

The former president voluntarily attended jury selection in a civil trial to decide how much money in damages, if any, he must pay E. Jean Carroll for his 2019 defamatory statements about her sexual assault allegations.

Trump has not indicated if he will attend Wednesday’s session. He has announced he will miss Thursday’s hearing due to the scheduled funeral of Melania Trump’s mother.

Former President Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll.

A jury of nine people has been selected in the trial to decide how much money in damages, if any, former president Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll for his 2019 defamatory statements about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.

What happens next: The civil trial will resume at 3 p.m. ET when the judge will deliver preliminary instructions and swear in the jury. After that, there will be opening statements.

The trial will run later than the normal 4:30 p.m. ET stop time if necessary to complete opening statements, Judge Lewis Kaplan indicated.

In this courtroom sketch, former President Donald Trump, right, turns to look at a prospective juror, standing left, during questions posed by Judge Lewis Kaplan in the jury selection process in a New York Federal Court on Tuesday.

Attorneys for E. Jean Carroll and Donald Trump will soon begin to strike jurors they want removed until they have a pool of nine.

These nine jurors will ultimately decide how much money in damages — if any — the former president must pay to the magazine columnist for his defamatory statements about her sexual assault allegations made in 2019. 

In a separate case, New York’s top court has dismissed an appeal from Donald Trump’s lawyers to remove the gag order placed on the former president in the New York Attorney General’s civil fraud trial.

New York’s appellate court had reinstated the order, which prohibited Trump and his attorneys from making public statements about the courtroom staff in the $370 million trial that wrapped up this month, in November, 2023.

Tuesday, the New York’s Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal, stated that “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”

In this courtroom sketch, prospective jurors file into a New York courtroom as Donald Trump, third left, stands surrounded by his defense team on Tuesday.

Three prospective jurors said they believe former President Donald Trump is being treated unfairly by the US court system.

Kaplan has continued to ask questions about the political activities and leanings of the jury pool in the trial to decide how much money in damages Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll for his 2019 defamatory statements about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations. 

The judge asked another prospective juror who said she had volunteered for President Joe Biden what kind of work she did, and she responded that she worked as a volunteer at a Biden phone bank.

The court is now in a short break as jury selection is ongoing. No additional jurors were excused before the break.

Several prospective jurors in the jury pool in Donald Trump’s defamation trial say they made political contributions either to Trump and groups supporting him or his political opponents.

Two of the prospective jurors said they believed the 2020 election was stolen, the false claim that Trump has continued to make as he runs for president again.

Judge Lewis Kaplan asked the potential jurors questions about possible biases in the trial to decide how much money in damages Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll for his 2019 defamatory statements about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.

Three people in the courtroom said they contributed money to Trump’s campaign or a group supporting him. All three said that wouldn’t affect their ability to fair and impartial.And at least 10 prospective jurors said they contributed money to President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or groups supporting the Democratic politicians.

Where the jury selection process stands: A decision on whether any of these potential jurors will be excused has not yet been made, as the jury selection process is ongoing.

Five jurors were dismissed so far. Three said they did not believe they could be fair in the trial, while another two said their ability to be fair would be affected by what they had heard or read about legal cases, criminal investigations and indictments against Trump.

Former President Donald Trump looks on during a campaign event in December 19 in Waterloo, Iowa.

As potential jurors continue to be questioned, nearly the entire jury pool in the courtroom said they had heard or read about legal cases, criminal investigations or indictments against former President Donald Trump.

Two individuals in this pool said that would affect their ability to be fair and were excused. In total, five individuals so far have been excused after acknowledging they would be unable to give both sides a fair trial.

Two women also said they have read E. Jean Carroll’s column at some point. They have so far not been excused.

Three jurors have so far been excused from the trial to decide how much money in damages former President Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll for his 2019 defamatory statements about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.

The jurors were dismissed after they indicated to Judge Lewis Kaplan they would not be able to give both sides a fair trial.

Kaplan also asked the jury pool about any knowledge they may have of the parties involved:

These jurors so far have not been excused. 

The judge is continuing to question the jury. 

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan instructed potential jurors that the trial to decide how much money Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll for 2019 defamatory statements about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations is expected to take three to five days and that the jury will remain anonymous.

Prospective jurors filled several rows of the courtroom gallery Tuesday in addition to the jury box. More prospective jurors are watching a feed from the jury room downstairs should they be needed.

No identifying information about the jurors will be made public nor will it be shared with the court or the parties, Kaplan told potential jurors.

The jurors will also be transported to and from the courthouse from gathering points. The added measures are meant to protect the jury from any unwanted attention, harassment or any invasion of privacy, Kaplan told the jury pool.

These measures were also used in the first trial. 

The empaneled jury will be prohibited from reading or discussing the case as the trial is ongoing, Judge Kaplan instructed the prospective jurors.

Court will run from 9:30 a.m. to roughly 4:30 p.m. each day, Judge Kaplan said, adding that there will be no proceedings on Friday. So, if the trial is not over by Thursday, it will resume Monday.

E. Jean Carroll arrives for her defamation trial against former President Donald Trump at the New York Federal Court in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Jury selection is underway in a Manhattan federal courtroom where a jury will decide how much money in damages former President Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll for his 2019 defamatory statements about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.

Earlier, Judge Lewis Kaplan laid out the process, saying he will seat a jury of nine. There are no alternates in civil juries in federal court.

Kaplan will ask the jury pool if they feel for any reason they cannot be fair to both sides. He will dismiss anyone who raises their hand to say they cannot be fair.

Kaplan also cautioned Trump and Carroll that they cannot communicate with jurors by any means, directly or indirectly — outside of witness testimony under oath — but otherwise there is no gag order on out-of-court statements.

Opening statements are expected to begin after jury selection is complete.

Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba sparred with Judge Lewis Kaplan at the start of the trial Tuesday over Trump’s appearance later in the week, after the judge admonished Habba for repeating some arguments on issues he ruled on ahead of trial.

“When the ruling is made that is the end not the beginning of argument,” Kaplan said at one point — perhaps as a nod to the lengthy arguments Judge Arthur Engoron allowed in Trump’s recent New York civil fraud trial.

Habba requested the judge grant an adjournment Thursday, so Trump does not have to decide whether to be in court at trial or at his mother-in-law’s funeral.

“I am asking you, sir, now for a one-day adjournment of this trial” Thursday to “allow my clients to be there so that he can be present for every day of this trial as he has a right to be,” Habba said.

“I am not stopping him from being there,” Kaplan said.

“No, you’re stopping him from being here, Your Honor,” Habba responded.

“The argument is over,” Kaplan said, declining to change his previous ruling.

Kaplan said Habba previously asked in her letter for a week-long adjournment to start the trial next Monday. Today, she asked for an adjournment only on Thursday. Kaplan reiterated his written ruling that Trump could only delay his testimony until next Monday.

Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll are in the same room for the first time in decades as court comes into session Tuesday for jury selection, in a case to decide how much money in damages Trump must pay Carroll for his 2019 defamatory statements about her sexual assault allegations.

Carroll testified at the first defamation trial last year that she hadn’t seen Trump in person in years. Trump did not attend that trial, but he is in Manhattan federal court for the opening day of this case.

Former President Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll.

Donald Trump has arrived at Manhattan federal court for his second E. Jean Carroll defamation case. This week, the former President will split his time between the campaign trail and the courtroom with the 2024 presidential primary season officially underway.

Jury selection is set to being later this morning. Here are some key facts ahead of the trial:

E. Jean Carroll arrives at the New York Federal Court on Tuesday.

E. Jean Carroll has arrived at Manhattan federal court where a jury will decide how much money in damages former President Donald Trump must pay her for his 2019 defamatory statements about her sexual assault allegations.

She was seen in the lobby of the federal courthouse. Her lawyers are present in the courtroom.

Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleged Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s and then defamed her when he denied her claim.

She is seeking more than $10 million in damages.