E Jean Carroll returns to witness stand in defamation trial without Trump in courtroom: Live updates

E Jean Carroll testifies against Donald Trump

Donald Trump ranted on Truth Social that E Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him is a “made up and disgusting hoax” after complaining that it is he who deserves compensation for reputational damage, not her.

In 2019, the former Elle magazine columnist accused the former president and current 2024 candidate of sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, for which Mr Trump was found liable last year.

She is now suing him again over his denial that the incident ever took place.

“I’m here because I was assaulted by Donald Trump and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened. He lied. And he shattered my reputation,” Ms Carroll testified in New York on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan at one point threatened to remove Mr Trump from the courtroom for commenting as she testified, to which the presidential candidate responded bitterly: “I would love it.”

Ms Carroll was back on the stand this morning but without Mr Trump in attendance. He returned to Florida for his mother-in-law’s funeral following a short stop-over for a rally appearance in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, last night ahead of next week’s primary.

After a mid-morning break, Ms Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan conducted a brief redirect questioning of her client, asking whether any of the mean tweets she received before Donald Trump commented called her a Democratic operative or say that she should be raped.

Ms Carroll says no. She also says no to being asked whether her motivation for publishing the book was to be on magazine covers.

She confirms that she expected a backlash to her story and that Mr Trump’s comments made it worse.

In recross-examination, Alina Habba