Closing arguments expected in E Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial against Trump

E Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial against Donald Trump nears its final stage Friday morning in Manhattan federal court with both sides expected to present their closing arguments to the jury. Trump walked into the courtroom around 940 am for the proceedings.

The scheduled closings come one day after Trump – whom Carroll sued for defamation over his denials of her rape allegation in 2019 – testified for less than five minutes, as Lewis Kaplan had limited what his lawyer could ask him, and what he could say.

The judge had previously ruled that jurors’ findings in Carroll’s first trial against Trump – that he sexually abused her around late 1995 and when she came forward in 2019, defamed her – would apply in this trial. This ruling meant that the ex-president couldn’t re-litigate her claims and, as a result, jurors are only weighing damages in the ongoing proceedings.

One of the questions Habba was allowed to ask was: “Do you stand by your testimony in the deposition?”, during which he denied Carroll’s claim.

“One hundred percent, yes,” he replied.

“Did you deny the allegation because Ms Carroll made an accusation?” Habba pressed.

“That’s exactly right. She said something, I consider it a false accusation. No difference,” he said, prompting an objection from Carroll’s team. Kaplan ordered that everything after “yes, I did” would be stricken.

“Did you ever instruct anyone to hurt Ms Carroll in your statements?”

“No. I just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency,” Trump answered, prompting yet another objection. Kaplan ordered that everything after “no” be stricken, meaning jurors were directed to disregard his commentary.

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