Former President Donald Trump returned to a New York courtroom Thursday to attend his defamation trial and possibly testify with millions of dollars likely on the line, two days after he won the New Hampshire presidential primary.
Trump could be called by his own attorneys to take the stand in the case brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll. He had planned to testify earlier in the week, but trial proceedings were delayed for several days after a COVID-19 scare.
Carroll’s lawyers were expected to wrap their case about defamatory statements made by Trump, in which he denied sexually assaulting Carroll and said he had never met her. Trump has already twice been found liable for defamation against Carroll, once by the judge in this case and once by a jury that also found he was liable for the sexual abuse described by Carroll.
The advice columnist said that in the mid-1990s, they bumped into each other in the high-end New York department store Bergdorf Goodman and walked through the store. Carroll said he had asked her for help choosing a present for a young woman, and Carroll said what started with fun banter turned into a nightmare when Trump attacked her in a dressing room.
Carroll has twice sued Trump over defamatory statements that were years apart. Trump has continuously and frequently denied the allegations, even on the day a federal jury in May 2023 awarded Carroll $5 million.
The jury in the current trial has been shown threats of murder and rape that Carroll has received since 2019 when she went public with her story, in the form of emails, texts and tweets, including one message that read: “I’m very sorry, my friend said he wants to kill you and I cannot stop him.”
Trump’s ongoing denials are an issue in the trial, where he has denounced the case and its outcome within earshot of the jury. Carroll’s attorneys have said they want an award that will “make him stop.”
Fin Gómez contributed reporting.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in
for more features.
