Former President Donald Trump reportedly stormed out of the courtroom during closing arguments in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation trial Friday.
The former president left the courtroom as Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told the jury he is a liar who believes “the rules don’t apply to him,” according to NBC News. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is unrelated to Carroll’s lawyer, interrupted the attorney’s closing argument to announce the former president’s abrupt departure.
“The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom,” Kaplan reportedly said, according to The Messenger senior legal correspondent Adam Klasfeld.
The judge orders Trump’s lawyers to remain seated.
“That includes you Mr. Epshteyn,” even though Trump’s advisor, not his lawyer, Kaplan says.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) January 26, 2024
Kaplan ordered Trump’s attorneys, Alina Habba and Michael Madaio, to remain in the courtroom, according to Klasfeld.
Carroll’s attorney said Trump spent “the entire trial continuing to engage in defamation” against Carroll by calling her sexual abuse allegations against him a ‘con job,’” according to NBC News.
“Ms. Carroll did not make it up, the sexual assault happened and his denials were all complete lies,” the lawyer said.
After Trump walked out, the lawyer said the former president “thinks with his wealth and power” and believes he will suffer no consequences, according to NBC News. (RELATED: Judge Denies Trump’s Team From Referencing E. Jean Carroll’s Rape Claim For Future Defamation Trial)
Carroll is seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and an unspecified amount in punitive damages for “injury to her reputation, humiliation and mental anguish in her public and private life,” according to the outlet. She is particularly suing Trump for claiming he had never met her during a CNN town hall in May, where he called her allegation “fake” and referred to her as a “whack job.”
“I never met this woman. I never saw this woman,” Trump said on CNN.
A jury previously awarded Carroll $5 million in damages after she accused Trump of sexual battery, rape and defamation. The jury found Trump liable for sexual battery and defamation, but not for rape. Trump previously sued Carroll for defamation in late June after Carroll publicly insisted he raped her on television following the trial.
The judge also threatened Habba she was “on the verge of” jail time as she continued arguing with him about showing a particular slide with evidence, according to Politico legal reporter Erica Orden.