A jury was chosen on the first day of Donald Trump’s civil defamation trial to decide how much, if any, damages the former president would have to pay E. Jean Carroll for his defamatory remarks he made in 2019 regarding Carroll’s alleged sexual assault.
Trump’s presence in court Tuesday, the day after his overwhelming victory in the Iowa caucuses, was another example of how Trump’s campaign and legal fortunes are intertwined as he navigates a presidential race that includes numerous criminal and civil trials that could land him in courtrooms all over the East Coast in 2024. Trump did not speak during the jury selection on Tuesday.
As potential jurors were questioned about how they obtained their news, if they thought the 2020 election was rigged, and about their political contributions to both him and his rivals, Trump observed. With just one week until the primary, he departed the courtroom prior to the opening remarks on Tuesday night in order to head to New Hampshire for a campaign event.
Trump may travel back to New York for the remainder of the trial later this week, and his attorneys have indicated that he could be able to provide testimony. However, the judge has decided that Trump is not permitted to attempt to overturn a prior jury’s finding that he molested and shamed Carroll.
Carroll is requesting damages totaling $10 million.
The following lessons can be learned from the defamation trial’s first day:
Attorney Carroll argues for a “very significant” amount of damages.
Before the jury’s opening remarks on Tuesday, Trump left the court. Carroll’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, told the jury that there was already proof that Trump had molested Carroll in a posh department store in the 1990s.
The jury’s decision was based on remarks made by Trump in 2022; however, the current lawsuit concerns remarks made by Trump in 2019 during his presidential campaign.
E. Jean Carroll was sexually abused by Donald Trump. One evening, he was able to find her alone in an abandoned department shop, when he sexually attacked her. That is true, according to Crowley. “That fact has been established, and a jury convened in the same chairs you occupy now determined that it took place.”
According to Crowley, Trump’s insults on her throughout his presidency “unleashed his followers” and resulted in threats against her. Crowley added, “Trump was president when he made those statements, and he attacked Ms. Carroll to humiliate her and to destroy her reputation, using the biggest microphone in the world.”
Carroll’s attorney contended that the damages Carroll was given “should be significant, very significant.”
Crowley stated that Trump kept making posts about her on social media even as the trial began on Tuesday. “You will also be asked to decide how much money Donald Trump should have to pay as punishment for what he’s done and to deter him and others from doing it again,” Crowley said.
Trump’s lawyer Carroll has done well since the claims surfaced.
Alina Habba, a Trump lawyer, contended that Carroll’s career took off after she came forward with the allegations of sexual assault and that Trump had no negative impact on her reputation.
The jury was reminded by Habba that this case was not about assault. That was the case we had. The matter at hand is defamation.
According to Trump’s attorney, Carroll waited for the right moment to tell her story in order to get as much publicity as possible.
“People will react in both positive and negative ways if you make explosive allegations about a sitting president, regardless of who that president is,” Habba stated.
Habba stated of Carroll, “Now she wants President Trump to pay for the risks she took for the way she did this.” “She demands payment from President Trump for his hurtful tweets.”
The jurors are acquainted with Trump.
The jury that will determine Trump’s defamation lawsuit was made visible to the public throughout the jury selection process.
In the 2020 election, Manhattan, the site of the civil lawsuit, overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden over Trump (87% to 12%). However, jurors may also be selected from less strongly blue counties in the Southern District of New York, which are located north of the city.
This does not imply that the pool was a single unit. According to two of the potential jurors, Trump’s unfounded allegations that the 2020 election was rigged were accepted. Three prospective jurors disclosed their donations to Trump’s campaign or organizations. None of the three claimed that would compromise their capacity for objectivity and fairness.
In the end, none of the potential jurors was chosen to serve on the trial jury.
More than ten reported giving money to Biden and other prominent Democrats.
According to three potential jurors, the US legal system is treating Trump unfairly. Before it was his turn, a male juror in the gallery stood to respond to that question.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said, “We know where you stand, even though you’re not in the jury box.” This juror stated on Tuesday that he attended a Trump rally, gave money to the president, and thinks the 2020 election was rigged.
Almost every member of the jury pool admitted to having read about Trump’s legal cases, but just two stated that knowledge would impair their impartiality.
What is next in the case?
The trial is anticipated to run several days, and Carroll is scheduled to testify on Wednesday.
Her attorneys have stated that they might use clips from Trump’s 2022 deposition in addition to the “Access Hollywood” audio, on which Trump is heard crudely criticizing show host Billy Bush for how he treats women.
Although Trump has previously expressed reluctance to testify, most notably during his civil fraud trial in New York last month, his attorneys have stated that he intends to do so.
The jury’s decision in the previous defamation trial will also apply in this case, the court said, restricting the testimony in the case to damages and injuries.
A federal jury in Manhattan concluded in May of last year that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll and had later defamed her in remarks he made in public in 2022, despite Trump’s denials of the charges. Carroll was awarded damages totaling $5 million. Trump is contesting the decision.
When Trump was president, in June 2019, the defamatory remarks that are at trial were made. “I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type,” stated Trump, in part. Secondly, it never took place. Please, it never occurred.
Habba requested on Tuesday that Kaplan move the trial to Thursday in order to allow Trump to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law. Kaplan stated that even though he had previously decided not to postpone the trial, Trump might still testify on Monday.
Kaplan remarked, “I’m not stopping him from being there.”
Habba shot back, “No, you’re stopping him from being here, Your Honor.”
Kaplan declared, “The argument is over,” refusing to modify his earlier decision.