NEW YORK, USA: Donald Trump testified in the libel trial brought by E writer Jean Carroll, but his much-anticipated time on the stand was short.
The civil suit focuses on defamatory comments Trump made about Ms Carroll in 2019 while in the White House.
He was found responsible for sexually assaulting Ms Carroll in the 1990s, although he continues to deny the attack. But that’s why the court had to spend a lot of time Thursday debating the scope of his testimony.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the case, insisted that the former president limit the topics he discussed on the stand because he was found guilty in a separate trial of sexually assaulting Ms. Carroll.
This led to the judge and lawyers spending far more time arguing about what Mr Trump would be allowed to talk about than during his four minutes of testimony.
Judge Kaplan said the first court had found the facts and the only remaining issue was how much, if anything, Mr. Trump had to pay Carroll.
He left no room for the current Republican presidential front-runner to go beyond the agreed terms, making it impossible for him to launch a monologue or campaign from the witness stand.
It’s perhaps a lesson from one of Mr. Trump’s other legal battles, of which there are many. In a civil fraud trial in New York earlier this month, Trump was initially told he could not make a closing argument. The judge in that case asked if Mr. Trump would keep it short and stick to the issues of the case.
Trump responded with a six-minute monologue that included claims he was a victim of political persecution.
Thursday’s defamation trial gave the 77-year-old a much shorter leash.
Asked if he stood by his statement, he said: “100% yes”.
His lawyer Alina Habba then asked if he rejects Ms Carroll’s accusation – “that’s exactly right, Yes I did,” Trump responded. He further said, “She said something that I considered a false accusation — totally false.”
But Judge Kaplan quickly cut Trump off and told the jury to ignore his last statement.
Earlier in the day, Judge Kaplan warned Trump to stop interrupting proceedings by “talking loudly”. That included a moment when he was heard muttering under his breath that he had “never met this woman (Carroll)”.
The libel trial will resume on Friday at 09:30 ET (14:30 GMT) with closing arguments. It is not yet known if Donald Trump will attend.
