A jury in New York began deliberations Friday on what Donald Trump should pay to compensate a woman he was found to have sexually assaulted and defamed.
Writer E. Jean Carroll is seeking more than $10 million in damages for defamation by Trump in a federal court in New York, which has the power only to impose a civil penalty, not a criminal conviction.
The jury must now consider what level, if any, to award compensatory damages and punitive damages, intended to deter repeat defamation.
"The man who sexually assaulted (Carroll) gets to do what he wants - he gets to lie, he gets to defame," one of Carroll's lawyers said in closing arguments.
"He keeps on using his massive platform to hurt her... (and) guess what his followers have done? They have kept coming after her," the lawyer said. The question was how much money "it will need to get him to stop."
Trump fidgeted as he stood up when the jury left the courtroom to begin deliberating, with Judge Lewis Kaplan telling them: "This is an important case, folks."
Trump earlier stormed out of the federal courtroom while Carroll spoke, then sent a spate of insulting messages on his Truth Social platform to attack Carroll, the trial, and the judge, whom he called "an extremely abusive individual."
The 77-year-old Trump - whom a jury found liable for the sexual assault of Carroll in a separate federal civil case in New York - took the stand briefly Thursday to deny he instructed anyone to harm Carroll with his statements.
During Trump's testimony Thursday, Judge Lewis Kaplan limited him to three questions from his lawyers, to which he could only answer yes or no to prevent him digressing from the case.
"This is not America," Trump said as he left the courtroom following his short appearance.
Trump was not required to attend the trial or to testify. However, he has used the case, as well as others he faces, to generate heated media coverage and to fuel his claims of being victimized as he campaigns for a return to the White House in November's election.
Trump separately faces multiple criminal cases, including his alleged attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and a civil business fraud case.
Carroll, 80, alleges that Trump defamed her in 2019, when she first made her assault allegations public, by saying she "is not my type."
Tension in courtroom
Trump's lawyer Alina Habba sought to have the case thrown out Thursday on the grounds that threatening messages targeting Carroll, which have been aired in the case, began on social media before Trump's 2019 comments. Her request was denied.
Jurors were shown Trump's October 2022 deposition during which he confused a picture of Carroll for his former wife Marla Maples, which threatened to cast doubt on his claim Carroll was not his "type."
Last year, another federal jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and subsequently defaming her in 2022, when he called her a "complete con job."
Trump had been in court while he campaigned ahead of the New Hampshire primary, which he won handily over his only remaining challenger Nikki Haley, as he closes in on becoming the Republican candidate in the November election against Biden.