Former US President Trump's Defamation Trial Intensifies with Sudden Walkout
Donald Trump abruptly exited his defamation trial on Friday in New York amid the closing arguments.
The trial revolves around the 'destructive' comments he made about writer E Jean Carroll while serving as president in 2019. It is now up to the jury to decide the compensation Mr. Trump should provide. However, when Ms. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, delivered her final arguments, Mr. Trump decided to leave the courtroom. Kaplan portrayed him as a deceitful person who thought he could disregard regulations.
Before leaving abruptly, Mr. Trump displayed his disagreement by shaking his head in response to Kaplan's repeated mention of his sexual assault of Ms. Carroll. In a civil trial last year, Mr. Trump was found legally responsible for this action. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is unrelated to Ms. Carroll's lawyer, informed the court that the official record would reflect Mr. Trump's sudden departure. During Kaplan's final statements, she stressed that the former president's remarks, which denied any sexual assault, greatly harmed Ms. Carroll's reputation.
According to her testimony, Mr. Trump persistently damaged Ms. Carroll's reputation throughout the entirety of the trial. Last year, a civil trial confirmed that Mr. Trump had committed sexual assault against Ms. Carroll, a magazine columnist, at a New York department store in the 1990s. The jury also found him guilty of defamation for dismissing her allegations as lies, and he was ordered to pay her approximately $5 million (£4 million) in compensation. Despite the verdict, he vehemently asserts his innocence and denies any knowledge of Ms. Carroll's identity.
The jury in this particular case will determine the amount that Mr. Trump must compensate Ms. Carroll for his remarks. Ms Carroll is now pursuing a $10 million compensation, surpassing the amount sought in the previous trial. She claims that the statements made by the former president during his tenure inflicted more severe damage upon her.