Courts and Law

Trump scowls as jury is picked to decide how much he owes for denying sex assault

January 16, 2024 Larry Neumeister, Michael R. Sisak And Jake Offenhartz; Associated Press
A courtroom sketch of Donald Trump
In this courtroom sketch, prospective jurors file into the courtroom as Donald Trump, third left, stands surrounded by his defense team. Alina Habba, fourth left, Trump's lead defense attorney, stands beside him. E. Jean Carroll, background second from right, stands with her attorney Roberta Kaplan, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in New York. AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams
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Donald Trump shook his head in disgust Tuesday as the judge in his New York defamation trial told prospective jurors that another jury had already decided that the former president sexually abused columnist E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.

Later, when the judge asked during jury selection if anyone felt he had been treated unfairly by the court system, Trump raised his hand slyly. The gesture drew laughter from the crowd and a comment from the judge, who told Trump: “We know how you feel.”

Fresh from a political win Monday in the Iowa caucuses, the Republican presidential frontrunner detoured to a Manhattan courtroom for what amounts to the penalty phase of a civil defamation lawsuit stemming from Carroll’s claims he sexually attacked her in a department store dressing room.

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Nine jurors were selected for the trial, which Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said is likely to last three to five days. Testimony will begin Wednesday.

Trump did not attend the previous trial in the case last May, when a jury found he had sexually abused Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages. In light of that verdict, Kaplan told prospective jurors the trial beginning Tuesday would focus only on how much money, if any, Trump must pay Carroll for comments he made about her while president in 2019.

For purposes of the new trial, it had already been determined that Trump “did sexually assault Ms. Carroll,” Kaplan said, prompting Trump to shake his head from side to side. The ex-president was sitting at the defense table, flanked by his lawyers, about a dozen feet (3.7 meters) from Carroll and her legal team. They didn’t appear to speak or make eye contact.

As the day began, Kaplan rejected the defense’s request to suspend the trial on Thursday so Trump could attend his mother-in-law’s funeral — part of a combative exchange in which Trump’s lawyers accused the judge of thwarting their defense with pretrial evidence rulings they contend were favorable to Carroll.

“I am not stopping him from being there,” the judge said, referring to the funeral.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba responded: “No, you’re stopping him from being here.”

Habba told the judge that Trump plans to testify. Kaplan said the only accommodation he would make is that Trump can testify on Monday, even if the trial is otherwise finished by Thursday. The judge previously rejected Trump’s request to delay the trial a week.

Trump sat attentively, glaring and scowling at times, as about six-dozen prospective jurors filed into the courtroom and spent more than an hour responding to questions posed by the judge covering everything from their prior involvement with the judicial system to their political beliefs.

He twisted around in his chair and nodded at two prospective jurors — a man and woman — who stood when asked if they agreed with his belief that the 2020 election was rigged, and again when three people in the pool indicated they felt the former president was being treated unfairly by the court system.

Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in New York. Trump plans to attend the penalty phase of a New York civil defamation trial stemming from a columnist’s claims he sexually attacked her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

The process offered a window into the political beliefs of a microcosm of New Yorkers, drawn from a pool that includes Manhattan and northern suburban counties. Some noted personal connections to Trump or his adversaries. One woman said she had done publicity for his daughter’s company. Another said her father provided moving services for some of Trump’s buildings. Neither made the cut.

Jurors selected for the trial will remain anonymous, even to the parties, lawyers and judicial staff, and will be driven to and from the courthouse from an undisclosed location for their safety, Kaplan said.

Trump has increasingly made his courtroom travails — including four criminal cases — part of his run to retake the White House, positioning himself as a victim of partisan lawyers, judges and prosecutors and capitalizing on news coverage that accompanies his court visits. Last week, Trump attended closing arguments in the New York attorney general’s fraud lawsuit against him — and ended up giving a six-minute diatribe after his lawyers spoke.

“I guess you’d consider it part of the campaign,” Trump told reporters last week.

True to form, Trump fired off a series of social media posts about the defamation case after arriving to the courthouse Tuesday via motorcade and entering through a special entrance not usually used by the public. Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that Carroll’s rape allegation was an “attempted EXTORTION” involving “fabricated lies and political shenanigans.” He accused the judge of having “absolute hatred” for him.

 


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