Former President Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, criticized U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan for denying Trump a defense before the New York jury that would decide whether Trump slandered E. Jean Carroll over her rape claims, as The Washington Examiner reported.
“We were stripped of every defense, every single defense before we walked in there, and I am proud to stand with President Trump because he showed up, he stood up, he took the stand, and he faced this judge,” Habba said.
Trump attorney after jury decides he must pay E. Jean Carroll over $80 million: “We are in a New York jury and that is why we are seeing these witch hunts … I am so proud to stand with President Trump.” pic.twitter.com/8B08xiJqby
— The Messenger (@TheMessenger) January 26, 2024
Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, was awarded $65 million in punitive damages and $18.3 million in compensatory damages for emotional distress and other damages by a nine-member jury on Friday. The jury found Trump liable for defaming Carroll in his denial of her claim that he raped her in the mid-1990s.
Carroll leveled a rape allegation against Trump in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York. In response, Trump deemed Carroll's claim "false" and a "liar."
In May 2023, Trump was previously convicted of sexually assaulting Carroll in a distinct defamation trial.
Although there was insufficient evidence to establish a preponderance of the evidence standard for proving that Trump raped Carroll, the jury concluded that there was sufficient evidence to support his allegations of sexual abuse and defamation subsequent to Carroll's coming forward.
The $5 million Trump owes Carroll from the May trial is increased by the $83.3 million verdict on Friday. That amount is broken down as follows: $2 million for sexual abuse, $1.7 million for reputation restoration damages, and $1 million for malice and injury related to defamation.
Friday marked the occurrence of a "violation of our justice system," according to Habba, who accused Kaplan of obstructing the testimony of several of her expert witnesses.
“I couldn’t prove that she didn’t bring in the dress, there was no DNA, there was no experts — my experts were denied, two of them — two of them — were denied to come in,” Habba said.
Habba alleged that Kaplan threatened to jail her during Friday's court proceedings in retaliation for Kaplan's interruptions during arguments concerning a "five-hour gap" between the time Carroll's accusation surfaced and the time Trump issued a statement in 2019.
Habba intended to present a PowerPoint containing a collection of tweets that were forwarded to Carroll prior to the issuance of Trump's statement.
She contended that this served as evidence that the tweets in question were not a consequence of the remarks made by the former president. However, Kaplan denied admission of the tweets on the grounds that they had not been submitted as evidentiary material.
Additionally, the judge threatened to expel Trump from court last week on the grounds that he was "disruptive" in court. Carroll's attorney lodged the complaint that the former president was audibly criticizing the trial to the jurors, employing derogatory terms such as "witch hunt" and "con job."
