CNN’s Kara Scannell reported that during E. Jean Carroll’s testimony in the trial against former President Donald Trump, Trump shook his head while Carroll spoke about the alleged rape and defamation. The trial will determine the amount of money Trump will have to pay Carroll, who is seeking $10 million in damages for defamation, in addition to the $5 million awarded in the first trial.
Carroll, who accused Trump of rape, testified about the harm she experienced when Trump denied the allegations, claiming she wasn’t his type and accused her of fabricating the story to sell a book. While Carroll was on the witness stand, Trump reportedly shook his head in denial.
The trial has been marked by objections, and Trump has passed notes to his attorneys while occasionally whispering to lead attorney Alina Habba. The jury is attentive to Carroll’s testimony, and the trial is progressing into the details of what happened after Trump’s defamatory statements. The next phase will explore the aftermath of Carroll’s allegations and the impact of Trump’s statements.
KATE BOLDUAN: Kara Scannell has more from outside the courthouse. Carol, what? What are you learning from inside?
KARA SCANNELL: All right, so, E. Jean Carroll’s been on the stand for about an hour. There was a slight delay because of jury transportation issues, but she kind of started out out of the gate, laying down what this case is about. And that is the potential harm that she received when Donald Trump denied her allegations of rape and then said that she wasn’t his type and that she made it up to sell a book.
So what she testified to right at the start was she said, “I’m here because I was assaulted by Donald Trump. And when I wrote about it, he said it never happened. He lied and he shattered my reputation.”.
So, right as E. Jean Carroll Said, that Donald Trump, who was facing her sitting at least three tables back from her, he was shaking his head side to side in a sign that it never happened. And this is, of course, the issue in this case.
So she has mostly been giving background about her growing up, how she made it as an advice columnist, and they’ve just now gotten to the part of the story of what happened after she published her book with the rape allegation. And Donald Trump began making his statements.
So beginning to show the statements that a previous jury has already found to be defamatory. The next phase will be getting into what happened after that. So we’ve led up to this point so far.
I mean, there’s been a lot of objections so far during the trial, but Donald Trump otherwise is sitting straight ahead. He’s passed a few notes to his attorneys, leaned over to his lead attorney, Alina Habba, whispering to her a few times, but no other grand reaction.
It was just that first statement with Carroll saying, what happened? Trump shaking his head side to side, that it didn’t.
The jury has been paying attention. They’ve been watching Carroll, watching her attorney ask the questions. And this is now just really getting into what the heart of this case is. That is what happened to E. Jean Carroll After Trump made these statements that the jury had found to be defamatory, and then his attorney will have an opportunity to cross-examine her after that. Kate.
