Former President Donald Trump attended the first day of his civil defamation trial on Tuesday related to E. Jean Carroll's sexual assault allegations.
After Trump's victory in the Iowa caucuses, the former president traveled to New York to appear before a city court and begin a trial expected to last three to five days.
During the day, Trump witnessed the selection of the nine jurors without asking questions or comments and then left the court to go to a campaign event in New Hampshire. However, both the former president's and E. Jean Carroll's defenses had important statements.
During the appearance, Carroll's attorney, Shawn Crowley, urged the jury to consider "very significant" damages, arguing that Trump's attacks triggered threats and irreparably damaged his client's reputation.
Trump attends defamation damages trial stemming from E. Jean Carroll lawsuit, after winning Iowa Caucuses https://t.co/o2OvB0XQ3u
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) January 16, 2024
However, Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, argued that Carroll suffered no reputational damage, noting that her career has, in fact, flourished since she came forward with allegations against the former president.
Habba also stressed that the focus of the case is defamation and not sexual assault. He also suggested that Carroll strategically chose the moment to maximize media coverage.
"If you make explosive allegations about a sitting president —no matter who the president — people are going to react both good and bad. Now she wants President Trump to pay for the risks she took for the way she did this," Habba said, highlighting that Carroll expects Trump to pay more than $10 million "for the mean tweets."
The trial continues on Wednesday
The next step in the trial will be E. Jean Carroll's testimony, which is scheduled for Wednesday. Trump's lawyers have indicated that the former president also plans to testify.
