Donald Trump Judge's Unusual Instructions to Jury Raise Eyebrows
Story by Kate Plummer • 3h Newsweek
Jury selection has started in the former president's second defamation trial in New York.
In May 2023 Carroll, a journalist, was awarded $5 million in damages in May following a ruling that Trump had sexually assaulted her and was civilly liable for defamation.
Carroll's lawyers are seeking another $10 million in compensatory damages and "substantially more" after the former president continued to deny the accusations that he assaulted her in a New York City department store changing room in the mid-1990s, claiming he has no idea who she is and that Carroll was not his "type." Trump also called Carroll's account "fake" and labeled her a "whack job" during a CNN town hall broadcast. In early September, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump's comments against Carroll were defamatory.
Judge Kaplan said Trump will face an anonymous nine-person jury, with the names, addresses and places of employment of prospective jurors kept secret, saying he found "strong reason" to provide special protections for jurors at the civil trial.
He cited the Republican criticizing Carroll in public and the "extensive media coverage" of her case as well, as his conduct in New York Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud lawsuit against him, where Trump has been fined twice for violating a gag order with comments about his clerk.
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