Former President Donald Trump is on trial this week in New York to determine whether he will have to pay more damages to former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, for defaming her in 2019 when she denied her sexual abuse allegations.
In a separate trial last year, a jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of a Manhattan branch in the 1990s, and that he defamed her in a social media post in 2022 calling her allegations a “joke. “and a lie” and say “This woman is not my type!”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and said he doesn’t know who Carroll is.
Former President Trump’s defamation trial has been postponed for a day and is scheduled to resume Thursday morning.
The postponement was announced in an update posted to the court’s docket.
The trial was postponed Monday morning due to COVID-19 issues.
Donald Trump’s defamation damages trial, which was adjourned Monday morning due to COVID-19 concerns, will resume Wednesday.
Judge Lewis Kaplan had first announced that the trial would resume on Tuesday, but has now pushed back that date by a day.
“This Court functioned all the way through the worst of the COVID pandemic,” Judge Kaplan said this morning before court was adjourned. “We conducted over a hundred jury trials right through the lockdowns and everything else. So we have gotten through all of that — I’m sure we’ll get through all of this too.”
After Judge Kaplan adjourned the trial until Tuesday due to COVID-19 concerns, defense attorney Alina Habba asked him to postpone former President Trump’s testimony until Wednesday because “tomorrow is the New Hampshire primary.”
Trump, sitting at the defense table, appeared visibly irritated, actively conferring with Habba before she raised concerns about the timing.
The ruling did not immediately rule on his request.
Carroll’s lawyers objected to the delay.
The ruling also denied the defense’s most recent motion to mistrial, filed Friday.
“The defense made a motion for a mistrial, again,” the judge said. “That motion is denied.”
Trump spent another 30 minutes in court after the trial was adjourned and then left in his motorcade.
The hearing was postponed on Monday due to health problems of several participants.
Discussions will resume Tuesday, until everyone is healthy, Judge Lewis Kaplan announced.
One juror said he felt “hot and nauseous,” so the judge sent him home for the day with orders to get a COVID-19 test.
Additionally, defense attorney Alina Habba reported she is not feeling well. One or both of her parents had COVID-19 and she was exposed at a dinner with them three days ago, she said.
Habba said she had a fever 48 hours ago, but this morning a COVID-19 test administered by the court came back negative.
“Today we will accept testimony,” Kaplan said.
Former President Trump sat between Habba and his partner Michael Madaio as the judge made the announcement.
“I hope to see you tomorrow,” Judge Kaplan said.
During the lunch break, Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to eject former President Trump from the courtroom if he continued to make side remarks out of range of the jury’s ear.
The warning came after E. ‘s lawyer, Jean Carroll, Shawn Crowley, complained at one point about Trump’s comments.
“The defendant has made statements that we can hear at the bar table,” he said, quoting Trump: “It’s a witch hunt” and “It’s a scam. “When a video of Trump belittled E. Jean Carroll, Crowley said Trump said, “That’s right. “
Judge Kaplan, in response, addressed them from the bench.
“Mr. Trump has a right to be here. That right can be lost and it can be lost if it bothers me, which is what I’ve been told,” the judge said. “Mr. Trump, I hope you don’t have to exclude you from the trial. “
“I sense that you’re probably very willing for me to do that,” the judge added, to which Trump threw up his arms and said, “I’d love to, I’d love to. “
“I know you would, because you can’t yourself under those circumstances,” Kaplan replied. “You just can’t. “