Donald Trump’s testimony in the defamation lawsuit filed by author E. Jean Carroll ended almost as soon as it began, with the former US president standing by his earlier statement that Carroll’s claims that he raped her were a hoax, reports News.ro with reference to Reuters.

“One hundred percent and one percent yes,” Trump told his attorney Alina Hubby in Manhattan federal court when asked if his statements from an October 2022 deposition in the Carroll case were accurate.

On Thursday, Carroll’s lawyers released video clips of the deposition in which Trump called the former Elle columnist “mentally ill” and “crazy” and threatened to sue her.

“This is a false statement, it never happened, it will never happen,” Trump said in a statement.

Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million because Trump denied in June 2019 that he raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in Manhattan.

Last May, another jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after he dismissed a rape complaint in October 2022.

Trump, 77, spent just four minutes on the witness stand after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over both trials, said he would not allow the “return of disappointed parties” and allow Trump to go back on the original jury’s findings. .

A jury ruled that Trump defamed Carroll and sexually assaulted her by inserting his fingers into her vagina, and the judge said those findings were decisive in the second trial.

Kaplan redacted much of what Trump said on the witness stand, meaning the jury of seven men and two women could not consider it during deliberations.

Trump said “yes, I do” when his attorney Hubba asked him if he publicly denied Carroll’s rape complaint to protect himself, and “no” when Hubba asked if he intended to harm Carroll.

“I wanted to protect myself, my family and, frankly, the presidency,” he said, but Kaplan asked jurors to disregard that comment.

The judge, who is known for strict control in his courtroom, limited Trump’s testimony after hearing him discuss Carroll outside the presence of the jury. “I wasn’t in court,” Trump said. “I don’t know who this woman is. I have never met this woman.’

Kaplan interrupted him. “Excuse me, Mr. Trump, interrupt this hearing by speaking loudly,” the judge said.

The trial lasted four days, and final statements are expected on Friday.

The jury will consider only how much, if any, money Trump must pay Carroll for defamation and whether he owes additional amounts as punitive damages and to prevent him from defaming her again.

Last week, a damages expert said on behalf of Carroll that the reputational damage from Trump’s comments in 2019 could amount to $12.1 million. Trump’s legal team said the damages should be nominal or zero.