(25 Jan 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY: PART MUST CREDIT ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 25 January 2024
1. Various, E. Jean Carroll arrives at courthouse
2. Donald Trump exits Trump Tower
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press:
"I’m here in front of the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, where Donald Trump just took the witness stand in his defamation trial. He spoke for about three minutes, emphatically denying allegations that he sexually abused and defamed the magazine writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump says his comments were quote meant to ‘defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency.’ The judge ordered those comments stricken from the record immediately because he placed strict limits on what Trump could say in front of the jury. This is the second trial regarding allegations of fraud by Carroll, in the first Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation in separate comments. As a result, he was only allowed to answer yes or no questions and Trump bristled at this. He did not like being told what to do, and this really came to a head today. Before he even took the witness stand, he was muttering under his breath, he shaking his head at the judge. As he left the witness stand he rolled his eyes and he addressed the courtroom and he said quote, ‘this isn’t America.’ Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Friday."
4. Former US President Donald Trump’s motorcade departs courthouse
ASSOCIATED PRESS – MUST CREDIT ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
New York – 25 January 2024
5. STILL: Courtroom sketch, Donald Trump watches deposition video of himself in court
6. STILL: Witness Carol Martin is questioned by Trump defense attorney Alina Habba. Trump seated far left, E Jean Carroll upper left behind monitor. Judge Lewis Kaplan presiding
STORYLINE:
Former President Donald Trump was on and off the witness stand at a jury trial Thursday in less than 3 minutes but not before breaking a judge’s rules on what he could say by claiming that a writer’s sexual assault allegations were a “false accusation” and he wanted to defend himself and the presidency.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan swiftly instructed jurors to disregard those remarks from Trump, who didn’t look at the jury when he approached the witness stand, when he testified or when he stepped down.
Once the jury had left, Trump let his displeasure be known as he was almost out the door by turning his head and shaking it as he looked back toward a packed room, saying: “This is not America. This is not America. This is not America.”
The limits on Trump’s testimony were placed on him by the judge when he decided prior to the trial that a previous jury’s finding that Trump had indeed sexually abused advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in spring 1996 in the dressing room of a luxury Manhattan department store and defamed her with remarks in 2022 must be accepted by the new jury.
That earlier jury awarded Carroll $5 million at a Manhattan trial Trump did not attend. The current judge instructed this jury to consider only what additional damages, if any, Trump must pay Carroll. Her lawyer had requested $10 million in compensatory damages and substantially more in punitive damages.
During his brief stint testifying Thursday as Carroll looked on with her lawyers, Trump answered questions from his lawyer, Alina Habba. She told the judge beforehand that her questions were intended to elicit that Trump stood by an October 2022 deposition in which he vehemently denied Carroll’s claims and called her a “whack job” and “sick.”
She said she also wanted to show that Trump did not intend anyone to harm Carroll.
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