Former United States president Donald Trump, who served from 2017 to 2021, is set to testify before a nine-member jury in a defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. The hearing began today in New York, where Carroll will also present her account. Judge Lewis Kaplan made the ruling despite objections from Carroll’s legal team, who warned that the former president’s presence could cause disruption. Carroll is expected to take the stand this week to share her version of events with the jury.
Trump attended the federal court session in Manhattan wearing a classic black suit and a red tie, marking his first pretrial appearance amidst ongoing legal battles. The proceedings are expected to last roughly three to five days, during which Trump must address the claims that he did not know Carroll in 2019 and that his statements published at that time defamed her reputation. Carroll alleges that Trump’s comments about the encounter in the 1990s were improper. She is seeking damages of 9.1 million euros.
Earlier hearings last May found Trump responsible for sexual harassment and insulting Carroll, though not for rape. Since then the former president has maintained his stance that he does not know Carroll and has repeatedly challenged her account. Last week, Judge Kaplan ruled that Trump cannot deny sexual assault in this matter because the core issues have already been adjudicated in separate proceedings. Consequently, jurors will not evaluate Carroll’s sexual allegations; their task is to determine whether Trump’s 2019 statements caused harm to Carroll and, if so, determine the appropriate financial penalty.
Carroll’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, noted that Trump has affected his client’s life significantly and has urged followers to target Carroll on social media. In contrast, Trump’s defense team argued that Carroll’s public profile and follower count increased after her interactions with Trump, highlighting a rise from about 10,000 followers in 2017 to more than 282,000 by 2024 on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Selection of 9 jury members
On Tuesday morning, nine jurors, unnamed at this stage, were chosen from a pool of more than forty potential jurors. The selection process lasted several hours, and neither Trump nor Carroll was allowed to speak as Kaplan questioned the candidates. Questions touched on campaign donations, familiarity with Carroll’s columns, and views on election integrity from the last presidential race.
Trump has been advised to refrain from speaking; he often faces away from the judge during questions to avoid direct eye contact, while Carroll maintains a forward gaze toward the bench as responses are given. Trump took to Truth Social to express frustration, claiming he should be campaigning in New Hampshire but is instead required to attend a federal court with a judge he described as politically biased against him.
A busy January for Trump
Trump’s presence was limited to the jury selection phase, with no live observation of the proceedings by the defendant. Beyond this defamation case, the former president continues to campaign for the Republican nomination while facing a civil fraud lawsuit involving the family business, seeking penalties that could total hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially a ban on real estate activities in New York state.
In addition to the ongoing defamation trial in New York, Trump faces four more criminal charges. These include efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, the alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, and payments made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels related to a sexual encounter—charges that keep him in the national news cycle as the legal process unfolds.