Donald Trump back on trial, may testify in E. Jean Carroll case
investing.comNEW YORK (Reuters) — The trial in writer E. Jean Carroll's latest civil case against Donald Trump resumes on Monday, with the prospect that the former U.S. president may for the first time testify in open court in the defamation case.
A nine-person jury is hearing evidence to determine how much Trump should pay Carroll for defaming her in June 2019, when he denied raping her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Trump, 77, has consistently denied that anything happened, and accused Carroll, 80, of making up the incident to boost sales of her then-new memoir.
A different jury last May ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million over his similar October 2022 denial. Trump is appealing that verdict.
The trial is before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, who oversaw the earlier trial.
If he testifies, Trump will be forbidden from challenging Kaplan's rulings that he defamed and sexually abused Carroll, which the judge said the first trial established. The only issue is how much money Trump must pay Carroll, if any.
Lawyers for Carroll argued this month that Trump's recent behavior strongly suggested he might try to «sow chaos» if he testified, and might believe that doing so would help him.
Kaplan made a similar point on the trial's second day, after a lawyer for Carroll told him that jurors might have overheard Trump loudly proclaim the trial a «witch hunt» and «con job.»
The judge warned Trump he might be ejected if it happened again.
«I would love it,» Trump said.
«I know you would,» Kaplan replied.
Trump, a Republican, has used his legal travails to promote his 2024 White House run, calling the cases part of a political vendetta and an abuse of the judicial system.
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