Ex-President Donald Trump set to face jury over sex abuse and defamation claims
NEW YORK — After a big victory in the Iowa caucus, former President Donald Trump is expected to be in court Tuesday for a new legal challenge: a trial to determine how much more he owes writer E. Jean Carroll for denying that he sexually abused her in the 1990s and accuses her of lying about her claims.
Jury selection begins Tuesday morning in a federal court in Manhattan. Opening arguments could take place by noon in what is essentially a second penalty phase of a legal battle that Carroll has already won.
In May, another jury awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the spring of 1996, then discredited her in 2022 by claiming she had made it up after she publicly revealed it in a 2019 memoir. The jury ruled that Carroll had not proven that Trump raped her.
One issue not decided during that first trial was how much Trump was owed for comments he made about Carroll while he was president.
Determining that dollar amount will be the sole task of the new jury.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled last year that the new jury did not have to decide again whether Carroll was sexually assaulted or whether Trump’s comments about her were defamatory, as those topics were addressed in the first trial.
Trump is expected at the trial on Tuesday, although his plans for the rest of the week have become unclear since his mother-in-law’s funeral was scheduled for Thursday. The process is expected to take several days.
He has said he wants to testify, but if he does, there are strict limits on what he can talk about. He did not attend last year’s trial and recently said his lawyer advised against it.
Because the trial should focus only on how much Trump owes Carroll, the judge warned Trump and his lawyers that they cannot say to jurors things he said during the campaign or elsewhere, such as claiming she lied about him to to promote. her memoirs.
Kaplan also banned them from saying anything about Carroll’s “past romantic relationships, sexual orientation and previous sexual experiences,” by suggesting that Trump did not sexually assault Carroll or by implying that she was motivated by “a political agenda, financial interests, mental illnesses’. or else.”
They are also prohibited, the judge said, from advancing any argument contrary to the court’s ruling that “Mr. Trump lied with actual malice about sexually assaulting Ms. Carroll.”
These restrictions do not apply outside the presence of the jury. That has given Trump the freedom to continue posting on social media about all of the above topics — something he has done repeatedly in recent days — although each new denial carries the possibility of an increase in damages he must pay.
Kaplan rejected Trump’s request to delay the trial by a week, although he said he would not let Trump testify until Monday even if the trial would otherwise be ready for closing arguments by Thursday.
Carroll, 80, plans to testify about the damage to her career and reputation that resulted from Trump’s public statements. She is seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and millions more in additional damages.
Trump, 77, is appealing last year’s jury findings and continues to maintain that he does not know Carroll, that he never met her at the Bergdorf Goodman store in midtown Manhattan in the spring of 1996 and that Carroll has made up her claims to sell. her book and for political reasons.
Regardless of his losses in court, Trump is leading all Republicans in the primaries and plans to spend significant time in court fighting the civil and four criminal cases against him, saying, “In a sense, I think you considers it part of the case. campaign.”