Trump expected to attend today’s proceedings
Former President Donald Trump plans to attend the start of the new E. Jean Carroll civil damages trial on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with his travel plans.
The former president will travel from Des Moines, Iowa, to New York City following the state’s caucuses that NBC News projected he won on Monday night.
Cameras are not allowed in the U.S. District Court where the case is being heard and it is unlikely U.S. Secret Service would allow Trump to address cameras in front of the courthouse.
After the first day of the trial, Trump is set to travel to New Hampshire for a Tuesday night campaign event. The New Hampshire primary will take place next Tuesday, Jan. 23.
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What is the case about?
The trial centers on a defamation case brought by Carroll, a magazine writer who accused the former president of raping her in the 1990s, then defaming her when she went public with her allegations.
A New York jury last year found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. She was awarded $5 million in damages in May. The jury did not find Trump liable for the rape allegations.
The second trial, set to start today, involves Trump’s public comments about Carroll that he made both while he was president and after the jury’s verdict in May.
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What to expect from the trial today
Jury selection begins in the morning in federal court in lower Manhattan, and the panel will have to determine how much in damages Donald Trump should pay E. Jean Carroll for defamatory comments he made about her when he was president and after a different jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation last year.
Jury selection is expected to take a few hours in the morning, and will then be followed by opening statements in a trial that could result in Trump being hit with a judgment in the tens of millions of dollars.
Trump has said he plans to testify in his own defense. “I’m going to explain I don’t know who the hell she is,” he told reporters Thursday.
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