© Reuters. E. Jean Carroll walks outside Manhattan Federal Court on the day of the second civil trial, after she accused former U.S. President Donald Trump of raping her decades ago, in New York City, U.S., January 25, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid

By Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump should pay the writer E. Jean Carroll “dearly” for defaming her and denying he raped her, likely in the tens of millions of dollars, Carroll’s lawyer told jurors on Friday near the end of a trial.

But a lawyer for the former U.S. president countered that the former Elle magazine advice columnist doesn’t deserve a cent, having enjoyed the attention and suffered neither professional nor emotional harm after Trump branded her a liar.

A seven-man, two-woman jury in federal court in Manhattan is expected to begin deliberations later on Friday, the civil trial’s fifth day.

Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million for Trump’s having defamed her in June 2019, when he was in the White House, by denying her claim that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.

She said Trump’s comments caused her to be subjected to 4-1/2 years of continuous attacks, including death threats.

Trump, 77, accused Carroll of making up the encounter to boost sales of her memoir, and has maintained he had never heard of her.

He has also attacked Carroll during the trial and on the campaign trial, proclaiming her case a “witch hunt” and a “con job.”

Another jury last May ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million over a similar October 2022 denial, finding that he had defamed and sexually abused her.

Trump shook his head after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan told jurors it was an “established” fact that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll.

‘THIS IS HER LIFE’

Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, urged jurors to punish Trump for persistently lying about her client, and destroying her reputation as a truth-telling journalist.

“We all have to follow the law,” Kaplan said. “Donald Trump, however, acts as if these rules and laws just don’t apply to him.

“This trial is about getting him to stop, once and for all,” she added. “Now is the time to make him pay for it dearly.”

Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, countered that it was the publication of excerpts from Carroll’s memoir in New York magazine that triggered the attacks, not Trump’s denials, which began five hours later.

“It just doesn’t add up,” Habba said. “Even if you believe Ms. Carroll, that she really and truly feared for her safety because of the emails she received, she has not shown what she needs to show, that President Trump was the reason she received them.”

Habba also said Carroll enjoyed her new fame, citing her comments that she felt “buoyant” and “fabulous” and entered a “cocoon of love” from supporters.

“She was happier than ever,” Habba said. “Don’t take my word for it. Just ask E. Jean.”

Trump, a Republican, is seeking to retake the White House in the November election in a likely showdown against Democrat Joe Biden, who beat him in 2020.

The race is expected to be close even though Trump faces 91 felony counts in four criminal indictments, including two cases accusing him of trying to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss.

Trump walked out of the courtroom during Roberta Kaplan’s closing argument, but returned for Habba’s.

He has tried to make his legal travails a campaign asset, calling himself a victim of biased prosecutors and an unfair judicial system.

Carroll’s legal team urged jurors to ignore that.

“This isn’t a campaign rally,” Shawn Crowley, another lawyer for Carroll, said after Habba spoke. “Donald Trump is not the victim. This is her life. Help her take it back.”

‘SWISS CHEESE’

Jurors in the current trial will decide only how much Trump owes Carroll for harming her reputation, and whether to impose punitive damages to stop him from defaming her again.

A damages expert testified that the reputational harm alone was $7.3 million to $12.1 million.

Attorney Roberta Kaplan said an “unusually high” punitive damages award might also be needed to deter Trump, a billionaire.

“While Donald Trump may not care about the law, while he certainly does not care about truth, he does care about money,” she said.

Habba urged jurors to ignore the damages expert, saying her report “has more holes than Swiss cheese.”

On Thursday, Trump spent only four minutes defending himself on the witness stand after Judge Kaplan forbade him and his lawyers from revisiting issues that the first trial had settled.

Trump was allowed to confirm his October 2022 deposition testimony, which jurors had been shown, in which he called Carroll’s claims a “hoax” and said she was “mentally sick.”

Carroll wrote the “Ask E. Jean” column for Elle from 1993 to 2019, and often appeared on such programs as NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” She said those appearances dried up because of Trump.