Trump appears in the New York court trying him for defaming columnist E. Jean Carroll

Donald Trump, during this Thursday's hearing of the defamation trial in the Federal Court of Manhattan (New York). JANE ROSENBERG (REUTERS)

Donald Trump's race to the White House advances in a zigzag, from rallies to courts and back.

After his resounding victories in the Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses, the favorite candidate to reach the Republican nomination appeared this Thursday in federal court in New York where the defamation trial has resumed.

The hearing had to be postponed due to his campaign commitments, but also due to the covid symptoms of his lawyer Alina Habba.

Lawyers for columnist and writer E. Jean Carroll have presented evidence to convince the nine jurors that Trump owes her compensation for defaming her, in addition to sexually abusing her, as the same court ruled a year ago.

Carroll, 80 years old and a former columnist for

Elle

magazine , is demanding at least $10 million from the re-election candidate for having denied in 2019 that he abused her in the mid-nineties in a fitting room of an exclusive Manhattan department store.

In May, another jury ordered Trump, 77, to pay Carroll $5 million, making this the second round of the same case against the Republican, whose numerous legal troubles - he faces a total of 91 charges - Added to the four charges against him and a couple of civil proceedings - they seem to boost popularity and donations for his campaign.

Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing (he also did so in the case settled in May), stating that he did not know Carroll despite photos from the period in which they appear together at various parties, and accusing her of making up the rape to boost sales of an autobiographical book.

Unlike last year's process, also presided over by Judge Lewis Kaplan and which confirmed the existence of abuses by the magnate, the current one is only deciding the amount of compensation to which Carroll is entitled.

The jury must decide how much money the tycoon must pay for damaging the woman's reputation and how much, if any, as a fine or penalty and to dissuade him from defaming her again.

A damages expert testified on Carroll's behalf last week that reputational damage could amount to $12.1 million.

Carroll's lawyers showed jurors excerpts from an October 2022 deposition, during which Trump stood by his denial of Carroll's claims and called her “mentally ill,” repeatedly denigrating her.

The Republican's intemperance during the hearings, with frequent and angry interventions and even denigrating comments about Judge Kaplan's assistants, forced him to reprimand him, threatening him last week with expelling him from the courtroom.

Similar episodes of incontinence occurred on January 11, during a hearing in the civil fraud case brought by the New York attorney general, when Trump responded by attacking the judge and proclaiming that the case was a politically motivated farce.

Political crisis

Farce or not, the political tension that the Republican usually stirs up has also been transferred to the process.

An old friend of Carroll testified this Thursday before the jury that she fears being involved in a lawsuit against Donald Trump, due to the “dangerous climate” in the United States, CNN reports.

“I am a great consumer of news and I keep up to date with everything I can, and the climate in the country seems dangerous to me,” said the witness, called to testify by the defense clinging to a couple of misleading comments about certain traits. Carroll's psychology.

The declarant has claimed to be sorry for them.

For the Republican candidate, the Manhattan trial, in which his lawyers do not rule out that he testify, has become another element of his race towards re-election, a sounding board.

Hence, despite Judge Kaplan's insistence, he does not cease his criticism of Carroll, the magistrate himself and the judicial process, which he attributes, like the rest, to political persecution by Democrats.

In the last few hours, he has published dozens of posts related to the case on his Truth Social platform, maintaining that he had never heard of or touched Carroll and that the case is “another scam” due to the political witch hunt that he never tires of. report.

Kaplan, with 29 years of experience in the federal judiciary and known both for his firmness and for his lack of patience with responders, warned him last week not to use the courtroom to air his political grievances, that victimist argument that is so good results seem to be coming ahead of the presidential elections in November.

Carroll's lawyers have also warned that Trump could try to "wreak havoc" - that is, make even more noise - if he testified, an extreme that his defense does not rule out, since this attitude could help him politically.

The support he has been garnering so far, despite the 91 charges against him, seems to confirm his suspicions.

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