Jan. 25 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump is set to testify Thursday in the trial to determine how much he owes writer E. Jean Carroll in damages after multiple days of delays.
Trump signaled his plans to testify in a flurry of posts on social media where he again alleged that Carroll falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her in the dressing room of a New York department story, despite having been found liable for both the abuse and for defaming her by publicly claiming she lied to sell copies of her memoir.
“I’m heading back to New York City for a trial based on False Accusations, from perhaps decades ago — The woman has no idea when!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Judge Lewis Kaplan has ordered that Trump will not be able to make such statements against Carroll in court Thursday if he does indeed take the stand.
“Mr. Trump is precluded from offering any testimony, evidence, or argument suggesting or implying that he did not sexually assault Ms. Carroll, that she fabricated her account of the assault, or that she had any motive to do so,” the judge wrote in a Jan. 9 court filing.
Trump, however, when asked about his potential testimony before the trial indicated he would still deny having ever met Carroll.
“I’m going to explain I don’t know who the hell she is,” Trump told reporters.
Thursday’s proceedings to determine whether Carroll gets another $10 million plus unspecified punitive damages on top of the $5 million in defamation damages already awarded by a separate jury are expected to begin with Carroll concluding her testimony that began last week.
Carroll’s lawyers are expected to play portions of a Trump deposition for the jury Thursday where he calls the now-proven sexual abuse allegations a hoax and asserts that Carroll is not his type. During that deposition he also looked at a photo of Carroll and thought she was his ex-wife Marla Maples.
During her earlier testimony Carroll reiterated that Trump assaulted her and lied about it, then went further to deny they had met at all, adding that she has “paid as dearly as possible” for publicly accusing Trump as her reputation has been damaged by his public comments which also subjected her to immediate and constant harassment by the former president’s supporters.
Kaplan threatened to remove Trump, who had not been required to be present for Carroll’s testimony, from the court after he was heard loudly complaining during Carroll’s statements, calling the trial a “witch hunt” and a “con job.”
The trial was delayed multiple times this week. It quickly adjourned Monday when Trump lawyer Alina Habba said she was sick after visiting relatives who later tested positive for COVID-19. Her co-counsel was also exposed and a juror left the trial after also feeling ill.
It was delayed again after Habba had requested a pause for Trump to travel to New Hampshire Tuesday for the state’s GOP primary.
The trial was put on hold both Tuesday and Wednesday without clarification if it was in response to the illness concerns or Trump’s campaign.
