Former President Donald Trump abruptly left the courthouse in the middle of closing arguments that mark an end to the defamation trial in the case brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll.
The courthouse was packed Friday morning for the conclusion of the trial. Minutes after the plaintiff’s side began its closing statement, President Trump got up and left without notice. He did not return for the rest of the statement.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan interrupted attorney Roberta Kaplan, of no relation, to add, “The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom.”
Ms. Kaplan’s statement was preceded by a heated exchange between defense attorney Alina Habba and Judge Kaplan, who threatened jail time when she continued to talk after he told her to stop.
“You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup. Now sit down,” Judge Kaplan said.
Exchanges between the judge and defense were also tense the day before when Ms. Habba wanted to call President Trump as her last witness.
“Ms. Habba, I will decide what he has a right to do. That is my job, not yours,” the judge said. When President Trump tried to speak up during this exchange, the judge admonished him.
Eventually, President Trump was allowed to testify, albeit briefly. Ms. Habba was also asked to guarantee that she would ask President Trump whether he intended to incite people to harm Ms. Carroll with his statements.
President Trump answered, “No, I just wanted to defend myself, my family—” and intended to elaborate on his answer, but the judge struck from the record everything after the word “no.”
Seeking $24 Million in Damages
Ms. Carroll, who won $5 million last year in a related lawsuit, is now asking for $24 million in damages. Ms. Kaplan argued this was appropriate because of the “storm of hate” Ms. Carroll faced after President Trump’s statements about her.“This case is about punishing Donald Trump for what he’s done and what he continues to do,” Ms. Kaplan said. “This trial is about getting him to stop.”
Case Background
The case is one of two brought against President Trump by Ms. Carroll, dealing with accusations she made in 2019 and his response.While President Trump was still in office, Ms. Carroll accused him of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room sometime in the 1990s. He publicly denied the accusation in a statement and interview responses while also claiming that he didn’t know who she was and suggesting that she was trying to gain publicity to sell her book.
Ms. Carroll sued President Trump for defamation in 2019 based on those statements. President Trump countersued, but the suit was denied.
The countersuit later became the rationale for an appeals court to deny a dismissal of the case based on presidential immunity, with the plaintiff arguing that President Trump had waived this immunity when he litigated the case.
In 2019, New York also passed the Adult Survivors Act, which would allow sexual abuse cases to be brought outside of the statute of limitations for a new period of one year. It was signed into law in 2022, and Ms. Carroll then sued President Trump in a second case accusing him of rape and defamation in new statements that he had made about her.
In May 2023, a jury awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million on this second case, finding that President Trump was liable for defamation and sexual battery instead of rape. Ms. Carroll then amended her first case to seek $10 million in damages based on the formula used in the first case to arrive at $5 million.
Judge Kaplan, presiding over both cases, then issued a summary judgment finding President Trump liable for defamation in the first case, stating that the facts were the same in both cases.
President Trump has said he will appeal the rulings in both cases.
