The former president attacks his accuser online after she testified in the defamation civil trial in New York.
In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump attacked the case, in which the former president is accused of defaming Carroll while denying that he sexually assaulted her at a Bergdorf Goodman store in New York in the 1990s, as a „hoax“ while again saying the incident never took place.
The civil trial in New York is separate to the sexual battery and defamation lawsuit that Carroll previously won against Trump. In May 2023, a different jury ruled Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll at the department store and then defaming her character while denying the assault took place. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.
Carroll is seeking $10 million damages in this defamation suit, which focuses on Trump’s statements made in 2019 denying the assault, including that Carroll made up the attack to sell copies of her book. Trump is arguing that the remarks he gave while president denying the assault took place are protected under absolute immunity as they fell under the scope of his official duties.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to remove Trump from the court after he repeatedly and loudly spoke with his lawyers while Carroll was on the witness stand. Trump attorney Alina Habba unsuccessfully requested a mistrial, accusing Carroll of deleting evidence after the writer admitted deleting emails that were critical of her coming forward with her claims against Trump.
