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 in the Iowa caucuses, the GOP 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, the AP reports.
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 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. 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. 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.
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The judge previously rejected Trump' s request to delay the trial a week. Carroll, 80, plans to testify about the damage to her career and reputation that resulted from Trump's public statements. She seeks $10 million in compensatory damages and millions more in punitive damages. If Trump testifies, he will be under strict limits on what he can say. Because of the prior verdict, Kaplan has said, Trump cannot get on the witness stand and argue that he didn't sexually abuse or defame Carroll. (More E. Jean Carroll stories.)
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