Former President Donald Trump delivered his testimony to a New York courtroom for roughly four minutes on Thursday. Trump stood by his previous testimony denying Carroll's claim that he raped her, calling it a hoax.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 17: Former President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference at 40 Wall Street on January 17, 2024 in New York City. Trump held a press conference after leaving the second day of his defamation trial involving E. Jean Carroll. The trial is to determine how much money in damages the former president must pay Carroll as a result of public comments that he made both while he was president and after the jury’s verdict in May. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages in May from the previous lawsuit.
"100% yes," Trump told his lawyer Alina Habba in federal court in Manhattan when asked if his comments in an October 2022 deposition in Carroll's case were accurate, said Reuters.
Carroll's lawyers played videotaped excerpts from the deposition, in which Trump is calling her "mentally sick" and a "whack job" before threatening to sue her.
"It's a false accusation, never happened, never would happen," Trump said in the deposition.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, is seeking at least $10 million over Trump's June 2019 denials that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
However, last May, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after he denied her rape claim in October 2022.
What Does The Judge Say?
CBS News reported that Trump had planned to testify earlier in the week, but the trial postponed due to a Covid-19 scare. Ahead of Trump's testimony, while the jury was absent from the courtroom, Judge Lewis Kaplan reiterated that Trump "in fact sexually abused" Carroll. His comment prompted the former president to shake his head, audibly expressing his disgust.
As Judge Kaplan laid out the restrictions of his testimony, Carroll's attorney, Shawn Crowley, said Trump was already indicating that he would violate the rules.
"Mr. Trump said under his breath just behind us that he intends to say he doesn't know her and never met her," Crowley said.
Moments later, he repeated the claim loudly as his attorney, Alina Habba, spoke.
"I don't know who the woman is. I never met this woman," he said, causing the judge to reprimand him for interrupting.
After Trump's brief testimony, the defense rested its case. The GOP frontrunner quickly left the courtroom but not without words on his way out.
"It's not America. Not America. This is not America," he said.
The trial has lasted four days. Closing arguments are on Friday.
