Donald Trump stormed out of a Manhattan federal courtroom minutes after E. Jean Carroll's lawyers began their closing arguments asking jurors to award the former president at least $24 million in damages. .
Trump, 77, stood up and abruptly left the courtroom at about 9:58 a.m., about five minutes after Roberta Kaplan's closing remarks. In it, she stated that her defamation damages trial was “a defamation trial. [Trump] Stop it once and for all,” he publicly attacked Carol.
Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation to Roberta Kaplan) was forced to interject, saying, “The record will reflect that Mr. Trump got up and walked out of the courtroom.”
The judge told the Trump campaign that “the defense attorneys should remain seated.”
The dramatic moment unfolded after the judge warned everyone in the courtroom to remain silent during the lawyers' arguments.
Real estate moguls are not required to attend civil trials like they do in criminal cases. But he said he wanted to be present all day, and only missed one day out of five to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, Amalia Knabs, the mother of Melania Trump. .
In fact, the Republican presidential front-runner on Friday canceled a trip to Arizona where he was scheduled to speak at a Republican event in order to attend the final day of the trial.
Roberta Kaplan told jurors in a nearly hour-long presentation that the trial was about “punishing” the former commander-in-chief for his repeated comments allegedly disparaging the “Ask E. Gene” advice columnist. That's what he said.
Carroll's side said President Trump denied knowing her in June 2019 and said she wasn't his type, hours after she first went public with her sexual assault allegations. He claims to have “liberated his followers” against her.
Trump's comments about Carroll from the White House lawn while he was in office have tarnished her reputation as a respected journalist, and online trolls have bombarded her with hateful messages and even death threats. Her lawyer argued that she urged her to send it and that she still receives it. .
A jury last year found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll and ordered him to pay her $5 million, but Trump continues to defame Carroll. Roberta Kaplan claimed that she could not have stopped the attack.
“This lawsuit is about stopping him once and for all,” she said.
“He ignored another verdict as if it never happened,” the lawyer later added. “Given Donald Trump's continued claims to smear Carroll and his vast wealth, how much will it cost to stop it?”
Roberta Kaplan told the jury $12 million to restore Carol's reputation, at least another $12 million for Carol's pain and suffering, and additional money in punitive damages, or punitive damages. I asked him to give it to me.
The lawyer did not suggest a figure for punitive damages, but asked that the figure be “meaningful” and that Carroll be “forever free from Donald Trump's relentless attacks.” may be our only hope.''
She also argued that jurors should hit Trump where it hurts because all he cares about is money.
“One of the things Donald Trump cares about is money,” Roberta Kaplan said. “Donald Trump doesn't care about the law, but he doesn't care about the truth either. He cares about the money.”
After Roberta Kaplan concluded, Trump returned to the courtroom to hear closing remarks from his lawyer, Alina Haba.
Haba argued that Trump should not have to pay for the hateful messages online trolls sent to Carroll and that his public comments about Carroll were merely for his own protection. .
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” Haba said as he watched from the defense bench, with the same vigor as President Trump.
“President Trump can no more control what social media users think than he can control the weather,” she said.
“President Trump should not have to pay for their threats,” Haba said. “He didn't condone them, he didn't dictate to them, he just told his truth.”
At one point, Judge Kaplan interrupted Haba when he mentioned that Trump had denied raping Carroll.
The judge removed the statement from the transcript and instructed jurors to ignore it, reminding the jury that Trump had already been found responsible for sexually assaulting her.
When Haba tried to answer, the judge declared, “You won't fight me.”
Also, earlier in the day, Judge Kaplan clashed with Judge Haba, who insisted on keeping one of the slides in the presentation, over Judge Kaplan's decision to keep it private.
“MS. Hubba, you have to spend some more time in confinement. Sit down!” the judge said earlier in the day.
After Haba adjourned, Trump remained in the courtroom while Carroll's other lawyer, Sean Crowley, launched a rebuttal, calling the 45th president a liar.
“Ladies and gentlemen, his 'truth' is a lie,” Crowley told jurors. “That may be the way Donald Trump lives his life, but it doesn't work that way in court.”
Crowley criticized President Trump for leaving the floor earlier in the day, suggesting it was an example of a lack of respect for the legal system.
“The man who did this, [Carroll], the man who sexually assaulted her, he can do whatever he wants. He will ignore the jury's verdict,” Crowley said.
“You saw how he acted during this trial. You saw him leave the courtroom while Mr. Kaplan was speaking.”
After the court adjourned just before 1 p.m., the judge ordered jurors to begin deliberations over lunch before releasing them.
Mr. Kaplan told the jury that if they found in Mr. Trump's favor, they should award a verdict of $1, and if they found in Mr. Carroll's favor, they would have to decide the amount they thought was appropriate. Told.
On Thursday, Trump testified for less than three minutes after Judge Kaplan set limits on the questions Haba could ask and the topics that Trump could cover in his answers.
President Trump has denied the allegations and called the trial a “sham.”
