The hearing to determine how much more money Donald Trump will have to pay for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll resumed on Thursday morning. It was a highly anticipated event that included the possibility of Trump taking the stand to defend himself. Or more likely, to further incriminate himself and/or engage in disruptive conduct that would trigger a contempt of court charge.

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This hearing’s purpose was solely to ascertain the amount of damages that Trump would be liable for as a result of his making additional defamatory comments after the first trial that ordered a $5 million dollar penalty for defamation and sexual assault. Trump’s inability to keep his mouth shut has always been his biggest liability.

SEE THIS: Fearful Trump Unleashes a Flurry of Frantic Posts Attacking His Rape Victim, E. Jean Carroll

Prior to the hearing, Trump posted dozens of comments on his failing social media scam, Truth Social, maligning Carroll with vicious slander and out of context quotes. Among them was one that inquired as to whether an old video clip of Carroll being interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN would be played for the court. It’s a bizarre request for several reasons, beginning with the fact that Trump ordinarily regards CNN as “fake news.” But now, embracing the network, Trump wrote…

“Are we going to be able to show the CNN Anderson Cooper tape today which, among other things, totally exonerates me from a decades old False Accusation? THIS IS A WITCH HUNT CONCEIVED AND FUNDED BY POLITICAL OPERATIVES FOR PURPOSES OF ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!”

Let’s just set aside Trump’s tedious yammering that accurate criticism of him is “election interference,” and/or a politically driven “witch hunt.” The video that Trump is referring to was from an interview that aired on June 24, 2019, four and a half years ago. Trump posted a deceptively edited clip that left out pertinent details of Carroll’s remarks, but noted his claim that the assault “never happened,” and that Carroll “is not my type.” Which suggests that if she were his type, it definitely would have happened.

The clip was only 30 seconds of a 10 minute interview (transcript). Here is the part that Trump posted:

Cooper: You don’t feel like a victim.
Carroll: I was not thrown on the ground and ravaged. The word “rape” carries so many sexual connotations. This was not sexual.

And here’s part of what Trump left out:

Carroll: It hurt.
Cooper: I think most people think of rape as a violent assault.
Carroll: I think most people think of rape as being sexy.

The trial begins today in E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against Donald Trump accusing him of raping her in the 90s and defaming her when he said "she's not my type."

Here she is on CNN in 2019 when she first accused Donald Trump saying "rape is sexy." pic.twitter.com/s3uWlQSTpl

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 25, 2023

Trump’s deliberate distortion of the interview sought to make Carroll appear to be denying that any assault took place. But he is, as usual, lying. In context it is clear that she was merely saying that the assault was violent in nature, rather than sexual. Which is how crime and psychology experts describe the act of rape. And she was pointing out to Cooper that many people do not understand that rape is a crime of violence.

Carroll is no way “exonerating” Trump. To the contrary, she is affirming that she was “hurt” during this forcible assault. That was established during the first trial wherein she won millions of dollars in damages. And the Judge wasn’t going to allow Trump to relitigate the case in this hearing for additional damages. In Thursday’s proceedings he made that clear to Trump and his parking lot attorney, Alina Habba. As reported by NBC News…

“‘There was a trial last year regarding the truth or falsity to Ms. Carroll’s claim that Mr. Trump sexually assaulted her,’ U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said. ‘The jury unanimously concluded that he sexually assaulted her and his claim that he did not was false and defamatory’ so Trump can’t dispute those claims now. ‘There are no do-overs,’ the judge said, adding that ‘a prior action can not be relitigated.'”

Consequently, when the judge asked if Habba had any further witnesses, she said that she did – Donald J. Trump. However, his testimony lasted all of three minutes, wherein he merely asserted that he stood by his prior deposition. But even in that short time he violated court orders to stick to the issue of damages and not present evidence from the previous trial.

It’s safe to predict that the jury is going to award Carroll the additional damages she is seeking. It’s equally safe to predict that Trump is likely going to continue shooting his mouth off and getting himself into more trouble. And that goes for this civil case, as well as all of the other criminal cases (91 felony counts so far) that are pending.

RELATED STORIES:

• Trump Lawyer Complains that Just Factually Reporting His Legal Problems is Election Interference
• Ted Lieu Reads Federal Judge’s Confirmation that Trump is a Rapist Into Congressional Record
• Trump is FREAKING OUT, Saying that His Trials Should Have Started Before He Committed His Crimes

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