by Donald J. Trump shook his head. He exhaled loudly. He whispered to his lawyer. He muttered “scam” and “witch hunt.”
As writer E. Jean Carroll told a jury in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday how Trump had ruined her reputation and made her the target of his most ardent supporters, the former president sat at the defense table and faced.
His comments, the kind of protests familiar at his rallies and speeches, were unusual only because they came in the middle of a civil jury trial over a lawsuit Carroll had filed against Trump.
She was testifying about what happened when Trump called her a liar after she accused him in 2019 of a rape that had gone on for decades.
Suddenly, Trump’s complaints turned into an extraordinary exchange after a lawyer for Carroll, outside the jury’s presence, cited Trump’s comments about Carroll’s testimony and complained that jurors would be able to hear him.
The judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, who had argued all morning with one of Trump’s lawyers, Alina Habba, over her objections to Carroll’s testimony, seemed to be losing patience. “Mr. Trump has a right to be present here,” the judge began, adding that Trump could lose that right if he is disruptive and if he ignores court orders.
“I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial,” Judge Kaplan said. “I understand you’re probably very anxious for me to do that.”
Mr. Trump raised his hands. “I would love to,” he said.
“I know you would,” Judge Kaplan said. “Apparently, you can’t control yourself under these circumstances.”
The confrontation came on the second day of trial in a defamation lawsuit brought by Carroll, 80, who is seeking millions of dollars in damages for comments Trump, 77, made after she publicly said for first time he had raped her in the middle of the year. -1990s in the dressing room of a department store.
Trump’s behavior in court Wednesday may portend clashes between a man who has attacked American institutions and a judicial system defined by decorum and restraint. Trump has tried to make his legal problems, which include four criminal indictments, a sales pitch to voters, and in recent days he has alternated appearances in court and in politically important states.
He attended jury selection in Carroll’s case on Tuesday, flew to New Hampshire later that day for a campaign stop, then returned to Manhattan on Wednesday morning and attended the session where she took the stand. As a Witness.
Trump has been attacking Carroll for more than four years, since she first accused him of rape in a book excerpt that appeared in New York magazine in June 2019. Since then, she has sued Trump twice.
In the first case to go to trial, last May a jury found Trump responsible for sexually abusing her and awarded him just over $2 million in damages. He also awarded her just under $3 million after discovering that Trump had defamed her in a 2022 post on her Truth Social website, in which he called her claim “a complete scam” and a hoax. .
The current trial, which had been delayed by appeals, focuses solely on what damages, if any, Trump should pay Carroll for defaming her earlier, shortly after the book excerpt appeared.
She is asking for at least $10 million in damages, as well as an unspecified amount of punitive damages, which are intended to punish a defendant and, in this case, get Trump to stop insulting her.
His lawyers have told jurors that Trump’s attacks have been relentless. A day after the multimillion-dollar verdict against her last May, he appeared on CNN and, in response to questions from a moderator, called her “crazy” with a “made-up story” and said the trial had been “a rigged deal.”
Trump did not testify at that two-week trial, nor even attend the proceedings, but recently said he wanted to attend this week’s trial and testify. He has been present in court, sitting at the defense table, since the trial began Tuesday.
Carroll, the author of five books, appeared regularly on shows including “Good Morning America” and the “Today” show before her 2019 book excerpt was published. She said those appearances stopped after Trump accused her of lying and who was inundated with threats on social media and in messages to her inbox, some calling for her rape or death.
“He destroyed my reputation,” Carroll testified Wednesday in response to a question from her lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, about how the president’s comments had affected her.
“Before they knew me simply as a journalist,” she said, “and now they know me as the liar, the scammer and the ‘crackpot’.”
Ms Carroll largely maintained her composure as she described the impact of the messages she had received, but at times paused, appearing to hold back tears. When she spoke of a message that said “put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger,” her voice shook. Mr. Trump shook his head.
Trump appeared involved in the process throughout the day, passing notes to his lawyers and conferring with them. He looked at the nine-member jury several times, offering them a strained smile and, at one point, nodding in their direction. Jurors remained impassive and some took notes as Ms. Carroll testified.
On Wednesday night, Trump lawyer Habba, who had said in her opening statement that Carroll had wanted the spotlight and had used her story to gain “fame and notoriety,” began questioning her.
“You’re a journalist, right?” Mrs. Habba asked. “Didn’t you expect that some people wouldn’t believe you?”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Carroll.
Habba mentioned the warm messages of support Carroll said he received in the wake of his allegations. citing her comment in a 2019 USA Today interview that she was in a “cocoon of love.”
“You didn’t suffer too much emotional damage after his response, isn’t that fair to say?” Mrs. Habba asked.
“It’s not fair to say that,” Ms. Carroll responded.
“I experienced both great support, which I found very encouraging,” he said, and a “horrible, threatening, terrible flood of slime.”
After the lunch break, another of Trump’s lawyers, Michael T. Madaio, asked Judge Kaplan to recuse himself, citing what he called “general hostility toward the defense throughout this case.” The judge denied the request.
At a news conference after the hearing day ended, Trump criticized the judge – “a nasty man,” “a nasty judge,” “a guy who hates Trump” – for not allowing him a day’s delay to attend. to his mother. -His father-in-law’s funeral in Florida on Thursday.
He stood before eight American flags in the lobby of his building at 40 Wall Street and said the roles in the courtroom should be reversed and he should be given money.
“Frankly, I’m the one who suffered the damage,” Trump said.
Olivia Bensimon contributed reports.
