Trump May Testify in Upcoming Defamation Trial Over E. Jean Carroll's Sex Abuse Allegations

Carroll seeks over $10 million in damages after a jury found Trump sexually abused her in 1996; trial set to start January 16.

Former President Donald Trump may testify at a mid-January civil trial to decide how much he owes columnist E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she said he sexually abused her three decades ago.
The trial is set to start on January 16, and Carroll is planning to testify about how her life has been affected and threats she has faced since Trump claimed that he never knew her and that she was making false accusations against him.
Carroll is seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and substantially more in punitive damages after a jury at a Manhattan trial last May found she had been sexually abused by Trump in spring 1996.
The defamation claim at stake in the January trial arose after Trump, while he was still president, angrily denounced the assertions Carroll first publicly made in a memoir published in 2019.
A request to postpone the January trial while issues remain pending before an appeals court, including whether Trump is protected by absolute immunity for remarks made while he was president, was rejected by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.