Donald Trump fumes as trial begins to decide what he owes for defaming rape accuser E. Jean Carroll
- Fresh from his Iowa caucus win, the ex-US president appeared in a New York courtroom, where he sat, growling and scowling at times
- Carroll is seeking US$10 million in compensatory damages and millions more in punitive damages for damage to her career and reputation
Donald Trump shook his head in disgust on Tuesday as the judge in his New York defamation trial told prospective jurors that another jury had already decided the former US president sexually abused columnist E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.
Fresh from a political win Monday in the Iowa caucuses, the Republican presidential front runner detoured to a Manhattan courtroom for what amounts to the penalty phase of a civil defamation lawsuit stemming from Carroll’s claims he sexually attacked her in a department store dressing room.
Prospective jurors were told the trial was likely to last three to five days. Opening statements come next.
Trump did not attend the previous trial in the case last May, when a jury found he had sexually abused Carroll and awarded her US$5 million in damages. In light of that verdict, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told prospective jurors the trial beginning on Tuesday would focus only on how much money, if any, Trump must pay Carroll for comments he made about her while president in 2019.
For purposes of the new trial, it had already been determined that Trump “did sexually assault Ms Carroll”, Kaplan said, prompting Trump to shake his head from side to side. The ex-president was sitting at the defence table, flanked by his lawyers, about four metres (a dozen feet) from Carroll and her legal team. They did not appear to speak or make eye contact.