#EJeanCarroll atty Roberta Kaplan is going into what damages Carroll should be awarded. Caroll wrote books, articles & columns, skits for Saturday Night Live. #Trump took her reputation as a columnist & journalist & “shattered it in less than 24 hours,” Kaplan says. The gigs she once had are gone. The hundreds of letters she once got asking for advice have trickled to a handful. Now she is asked only to write about Trump, Kaplan says.

#law #rape #defamation

Roberta Kaplan, #EJeanCarroll’s lawyer, talks about the analysis that their expert, Ashlee Humphreys, a professor of integrated marketing at Northwestern University, conducted on the effects of #Trump’s statements, which reached more than 80 million people. Based on that analysis, “it is definitely not a reach to conclude that for Ms. Carroll it would cost at least $12 million” to repair her reputation, Kaplan says.

#law #rape #defamation #BelieveSurvivors

As atty Kaplan describes the terror that her client, #EJeanCarroll, felt while reading “hateful & threatening” messages from #Trump supporters. Trump’s lawyers are sitting at the defense table, their client’s chair still apparently pushed back from when he walked out.

Alina Habba, warned by the #JudgeKaplan, is sitting w/her arms folded as she listens to her opponent’s closing.

#law #rape #defamation #BelieveSurvivors

Roberta Kaplan asks the jury to imagine enduring a world of endless threats, knowing there were more waiting for you every time you opened up your phone or laptop.

Kaplan is now attacking #Trump’s lawyers as having been dismissive of the messages #EJeanCarroll received as a “few mean tweets.” She says that’s a vast understatement, and calls on the jury to make things right, to compensate Carroll for her fear & anguish.

#law #rape #defamation #BelieveSurvivors

Roberta Kaplan is now fighting off some of Trump’s lawyers' claims, including that *HE* had to defend himself after #EJeanCarroll initially published the essay accusing him of assault. “Give me a break,” Kaplan says, noting that the White House had already denied the claims by the time #Trump spoke up.

The courtroom has stilled, the energy of Trump leaving seemingly having dissipated. Here in the courthouse, we’re still not sure where exactly he is.
per Jonah Bromwich

#law #rape #defamation

Still addressing #Trump’s attys’ claims, Robbie Kaplan says #EJeanCarroll has no duty under the #law to mitigate the damage done to her reputation. The defense argued that Carroll herself brought on the blowback she received.

Kaplan is calling an oft-repeated defense line — that Carroll actually benefited from the attacks — “Donald Trump’s most insulting argument.”

“The idea that she should be grateful to him, that she’s better off, is indefensible,” Kaplan says.

#rape #BelieveSurvivors

Roberta Kaplan tells the jury that #Trump should pay her $12M to cover the cost of repairing her #reputation, $12M for the #EmotionalDistress #EJeanCarroll experienced plus #PunitiveDamages. “It will take an unusually high punitive” amount to stop Trump, she says.

Kaplan says she won’t ask for a specific number in punitive damages, but says that they should have an effect on Trump -- & she notes that he is a billionaire. “Billions of dollars to Donald Trump is just a drop in the bucket.”

#law

More on #Trump storming out during Roberta Kaplan’s closing argument from NYT:

“When Trump got up to leave, it was sudden & came w/o warning. He walked slowly out of the room, followed by one of his lawyers. He said nothing as he walked toward the door, & reporters & onlookers in the courtroom craned their necks to stare at him.
“A sketch artist quickly began drawing him exiting the courtroom.

#law
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/nyregion/trump-walks-out-defamation-trial.html?smid=url-share

“A number of reporters rushed to catch him outside. But he didn’t seem to emerge, & the reporters eventually returned to the building.

“…Before Trump walked out, before the closing arguments even began, he looked frustrated w/ the judge, shaking his head repeatedly. When Ms. Kaplan began describing last May’s verdict that found Mr. Trump had sexually abused Ms. Carroll, he grew more frustrated — scoffing, muttering & shaking his head.”

#law #rape #defamation #BelieveSurvivors #EJeanCarroll

After a break, #Trump returned to the courtroom.

Per Jonah Bromwich & Maria Cramer:

#AlinaHabba, Trump’s lawyer, begins her closing, her voice loud & heavy, her tone flat & saracastic. She carefully articulates the term “Twitter trolls,” as she tries to deflect blame for #EJeanCarroll’s suffering from her client.

Habba calls her client the victim: “There is no one that can truly express the frustration of the last few years better than my client, the fmr president of the United States.”

#law

Habba is reciting the facts, but w/heavy sarcasm targeting #EJeanCarroll. Of her initial story, Habba says, “She was looking to make a splash….” Meanwhile Habba says, #Trump was “busy running the country.”

Habba is arguing that Carroll has to prove a direct causal connection between Trump’s statements & the harm Carroll suffered. This has come up again & again in Trump #legal arguments — whether or not his statements have real-world impact. “No causation!” Habba thunders.

(um, #Jan6 anyone?)

“You are not here to pay Ms. Carroll for people who wrote mean tweets to her,” Habba says. They have to prove a direct link between the two statements he made in 2019 & the harm she suffered, Habba tells the jury.

“*President* #Trump has no more control over the thoughts and feelings of social media users than he does the weather,” Habba says.

(He knows exactly how his fans react to his BS)

#law #rape #defamation #BelieveSurvivors #EJeanCarroll

#Trump’s lawyers have consistently played down the seriousness of #threats of harm made to his political opponents, & Habba now says that she receives similar threats. #JudgeKaplan warned her against it, saying it was inappropriate.

From 2019 to 2022, there were other threatening messages, but we can’t see them because Carroll deleted them, Habba says. “Or, alternatively, perhaps they never existed in the first place.”

#law #rape #defamation #BelieveSurvivors #EJeanCarroll

Habba is yelling. Given she is before a jury, tone & affect — like yelling & sarcasm & #VictimBlaming — could very well affect the outcome.

for more about #AlinaHabba who actually said she’d rather be pretty than smart & that she could fake being smart:

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/01/26/nyregion/trump-carroll-defamation-trial/who-is-alina-habba-the-lawyer-for-donald-trump?smid=url-share

#law #rape #defamation #BelieveSurvivors #EJeanCarroll #Trump

Per Michael Gold, #Trump’s account sent about 16 posts in 15 minutes on social media just now. They mostly attack #JudgeKaplan & #EJeanCarroll herself, w/the familiar insults.

(he’s freaking crazy! I Hope Roberta Kaplan tells the Judge & jury. This is exactly why he needs serious #PunitiveDamages.)

Meanwhile Alina Habba, Trump's lawyer, said it is clear that Carroll suffered no #EmotionalDistress & also suffered no professional #harm.

#law #rape #defamation #BelieveSurvivors