Trump skipped the first Carroll trial. He later expressed regret for not attending and insisted on testifying in the second trial, though the judge limited what he could say, ruling he had missed his chance to argue that he didn't attack Carroll. He spent only a few minutes on the witness stand Thursday, during which he denied assaulting Carroll, then left court grumbling “this is not America.”
This new jury was only asked how much Trump, 77, should pay Carroll for two statements he made as president when he answered reporters’ questions after excerpts of Carroll’s memoir were published in a magazine — damages that couldn’t be decided earlier because of legal appeals. Jurors were not asked to re-decide the issue of whether the sex attack actually happened.
In her closing argument Friday, Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan requested $24 million in compensatory damages and “an unusually high punitive award.” The jury awarded $18.3 million in compensatory damages and another $65 million in punitive damages — meant to deter future behavior.
Kaplan urged jurors to punish Trump enough that he would stop a steady stream of public statements smearing Carroll as a liar and a “whack job.”
She noted that Trump had boasted of at least $14 billion in assets and that his brand alone is worth $10 billion.
“Donald Trump is prepared to use his wealth and power to defame people whenever he wants,” she said. “He ignored the last verdict as if it had never happened.”
Kaplan said he didn't show up at last year's trial when a jury determined he had sexually assaulted and defamed Carroll, but “he made sure” to attend most of this year's trial because it focused solely on damages.
“While Donald Trump may not care about the law, while he certainly doesn't care about the truth, he does care about money,” the lawyer said.
Big punitive damages, she told jurors, was the only way “to give Ms. Carroll a chance at a normal life again where she is not regularly bullied and humiliated by one of the most powerful men on the planet.”
Trump shook his head vigorously as Kaplan spoke early in her summation, then suddenly stood and walked out, taking Secret Service agents with him. His exit came only minutes after the judge, without the jury present, threatened to send his attorney to jail for continuing to talk when he told her she was finished.
“You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup. Now sit down,” the judge told Habba, who immediately complied.
Carroll testified early in the trial that Trump’s public statements had led to death threats.
“He shattered my reputation,” she said. “I am here to get my reputation back and to stop him from telling lies about me.”
She said she’d had an electronic fence installed around the cabin in upstate New York where she lives, warned neighbors of the threats and bought bullets for a gun she keeps by her bed.
“Previously, I was known simply as a journalist and had a column, and now I’m known as the liar, the fraud, and the whack job,” Carroll testified.
Trump’s lawyer, Habba, told jurors that Carroll had been enriched by her accusations against Trump and achieved fame she had craved. She said no damages were warranted after Trump's lawyers had established that Carroll didn't suffer emotionally from Trump's statements and “she certainly hasn't suffered professionally.”
To support Carroll’s request for millions in damages, Northwestern University sociologist Ashlee Humphreys had testified that Trump’s 2019 statements had caused between $7.2 million and $12.1 million in harm to Carroll’s reputation.
When Trump finally testified, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan gave him little room to maneuver after saying Trump was not permitted to revive issues settled in the first trial.
“It is a very well-established legal principle in this country that prevents do-overs by disappointed litigants,” said Kaplan, who is unrelated to Roberta Kaplan.
“He lost it and he is bound. And the jury will be instructed that, regardless of what he says in court here today, he did it, as far as they’re concerned. That is the law,” Kaplan said shortly before Trump testified.
After he swore to tell the truth, Trump was asked if he stood by a deposition in which he called Carroll a “liar” and a “whack job.” He answered: “100 percent. Yes.”
"That's exactly right," he said in response to the question of whether he refuted the charge since Carroll had made one. I think what she stated about the false accusation. When asked if he had ever given the order to harm Carroll, he said, "No." I simply wanted to protect my family, myself, and, to be honest, the president.
Following his "No" response to the final question, Trump made many statements that the jury was instructed to ignore, including the "false accusation" remark.
Trump put the judge to the test earlier in the trial. He protested to his attorneys about a "con job" and a "witch hunt" in front of the jury, and Kaplan threatened to have him removed from the courtroom if it occurred again. As Trump put it, "I would love it." At a press conference later that day, Trump told a news conference Kaplan was a “nasty judge.”
End//voice7news.tv
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