New York

Former United States president Donald Trump abruptly rose and walked out of the courtroom on Friday (Jan 26) during the closing arguments of his defamation trial in New York.

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Trump, who has been found to have defamed E Jean Carroll over the comments he made about her during the time when he was the US president, stormed out of the court as Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, stated that the ex-president was a "liar" who feels that "rules do not apply to him."

After Trump's dramatic departure from the court, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said, "the record will reflect that Mr Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom". 

Carroll's lawyer also told the jury, "he thinks with his wealth and power he can treat Ms Carroll how he wants and will suffer no consequences."

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He then came back to the courtroom an hour later, at the time of his own attorney's closing remarks.

Before walking out, reportedly, Trump kept nodding his head when the lawyer brought up allegations against the former president that he sexually assaulted Carroll.

At the time of her closing arguments, Kaplan said that Trump had severely attacked Carroll's reputation by repeatedly denying the sexual assault accusations.

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"This case is also about punishing Donald Trump," the lawyer said and added, "this trial is about getting him to stop once and for all". 

She said that Trump had "continued to defame Ms Carroll even as this trial was ongoing".

Also read: After Trump's refusal, Republican National Committee pulls resolution declaring him 'Presumptive 2024 Nominee'

Trump denies Carroll's sexual abuse claims

On Thursday (Jan 25) Trump reiterated that Carroll's sexual assault allegation against him was a hoax.

Standing by his earlier testimony, he said that his comments in an October 2022 deposition in Carroll's case were "100 per cent" accurate.

Earlier on Thursday, Carroll's lawyers played videotaped excerpts from the deposition, in which Trump called the former Elle magazine advice columnist "mentally sick" and a "whack job," and also threatened to sue her.

"It's a false accusation, never happened, never would happen," Trump said in the deposition.

Eighty-year-old writer Carroll is seeking at least $10 million over Trump's June 2019 denials, when he was president, that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.

(With inputs from agencies)