The court is taking a short recess. If you're just joining us, here's where things stand.

• E Jean Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, gave her closing arguments in the civil rape and defamation trial against former president Donald Trump
• Kaplan told the jury Trump was essentially "a witness against himself" due to comments he made in an Access Hollywood video where he said famous people can do anything to women, including grabbing them "by the [expletive]"
• Kaplan also said "self blame" kept Carroll from going to the police for decades, something Trump's lawyer have used against her in his defence

• Joe Tacopina, Trump's lawyer, has started his closing arguments, which focused on calling Carroll's claims "a work of fiction"
• Tacopina told the jury Carroll's story rips off the plot of a Law and Order: SVU episode
• A verdict from the jury is expected tomorrow

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Next, Tacopina responded to Carroll’s legal team’s attacks on the former president’s character.

Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, played several excerpts of a video deposition with the former president today. This included Trump’s responses to the Access Hollywood recording in which he claims stars can “grab women by the [expletive]”.

Kaplan argued the remarks were a playbook for how Trump treated Carroll, and women, more generally.

Trump’s remarks in the tape were “rude” and “gross”, Tacopina acknowledged, noting Trump at one point apologised for them and dismissed them as “locker room talk”.

Tacopina said the tape was an attempt to “distract” the jury from Carroll’s “unbelievable” story.

“[Trump] talked that way,” Tacopina said about the Access Hollywood tape. “But that doesn’t make Ms Carroll’s claim believable.”

Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from court

I've been speaking to people gathered outside the courthouse who are there in support of E Jean Carroll. Here's what some of them told me.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Image source, Getty Images

After a short recess, it’s Trump’s team’s chance to take the stand and make their case.

We’re hearing closing arguments from his lawyer, Joe Tacopina.

Tacopina has attempted to cast doubt on Carroll’s story, which he called “a work of fiction”.

“What they want is for you to hate [Trump] enough to ignore the facts,” he told the jury.

First, he raised questions about the place where Carroll alleged the assault took place, in a Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store in 1996. He called it “unbelievable” that the assault could have occurred in a popular department store without any employees to witness it.

Someone would have heard if Trump had banged Carroll’s body against the wall as she alleged, Tacopina said.

Instead, he argued, Caroll’s story was “ripped of the pages of Law and Order: SVU”, referencing a 2012 episode of the crime show in which a woman was raped in the lingerie department of a Bergdorf Goodman store.

The episode was too much of a coincidence, he said.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from court

If the jury finds Donald Trump liable for battery or defamation, then they will have to decide how much money to award E Jean Carroll.

A marketing expert hired by her team told jurors that the cost to repair her reputation from the damage caused by Trump’s statements could range from $368,000 (£290,000) to $2.7m (£2.13m).

The jury could also take into consideration the humiliation and suffering she felt in her public and private life which was caused by his words.

She testified that she lost income and that the continued attacks against her by Trump’s supporters made her feel “too ugly to live”.

Those would be considered compensatory damages, because they are intended to compensate her for the injury she suffered.

Carroll’s lawyers also want the jury to consider punitive damages, which are meant to punish Trump for acting maliciously and to discourage others from doing the same.

It’s up to the jury to come up with a fair and just dollar amount if they find Trump liable.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

There are nine jury members in this case, six men and three women.

Unlike many other civil trials, the names of the jurors in the E Jean Carroll case have been kept secret to protect them from unwanted invasions of their privacy.

The judge in the case, Lewis Kaplan, has argued there was a “very strong risk” they could face harassment "or worse” over their role in the trial against the former president.

This means the jurors have been transported to and from court and kept separate from the public during their breaks.

Several news outlets, including the Associated Press, have expressed opposition to US District Judge Kaplan’s plans for an anonymous jury. But he insisted the “unprecedented circumstances” in which the trial took place meant there was a “strong reason to believe that the jury needs the protection”.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from court

Roberta Kaplan said in order to believe Trump’s account, jurors would have to believe what she calls the “big lie”.

She outlined the "big lie" as a conspiracy between Carroll and her two friends, Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin, who gave evidence at the trial.

Kaplan said it was absurd to think they hatched a scheme from 1996 because they hated Trump.

Personal communications shown in court and their testimony were “rock solid evidence” they were telling the truth, the lawyer said.

Trump, she said, would need the jury to conclude that all three women perjured themselves.

Kaplan argued what happened to Carroll was not unique and claimed evidence had shown Trump had attacked three women, decades apart, in a similar fashion.

She pointed out none of them screamed and each time he said they were “not his type.”

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan has attempted to rebut some of Trump's legal team's arguments, including that Carroll could not remember the specific date of the alleged rape.

Kaplan conceded that Carroll did not know the date, but argued it mattered less because survivors of trauma tend to forget specific details and instead remembered other things, such as sensory memories.

This is why Carroll vividly remembers the sound of Trump's heavy breathing during the alleged assault but not how she was able to escape the department store, Kaplan told the court.

Carroll’s behaviour was consistent with that of a trauma survivor in other respects as well, Kaplan argued.

Screaming is an uncommon reaction for victims of sexual assault, expert Leslie Lebowitz testified during the trial. This explains why Carroll did not yell during the assault, Kaplan said.

Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, had repeatedly pressed the former columnist on why she had not screamed.

Kaplan said “self blame” kept Carroll from talking about the alleged assault.

“It kept her from going to the police, getting surveillance from [Bergdorf Goodman],” she said.

Image source, Getty Images

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

During the first hour of closing arguments, E Jean Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, portrayed Carroll as a courageous woman who had been deeply harmed by Trump. She called on the jury to hold him accountable for the alleged assault.

“No one, not even a former president, is above the law,” she said.

She argued that Trump had followed the same playbook with Carroll that he had laid out in an infamous Access Hollywood recording, in which he said famous people could “do anything” to women, including grabbing “women by their [expletive]".

That’s what Trump did to Carroll, Kaplan told the court.

“He kissed [women] without consent, he grabbed them, he did not wait," she said. "He grabbed [Carroll] by the [expletive].”

She claimed that in doubling down on his Access Hollywood remarks during a video deposition played during the trial, Trump had acted as a “witness against himself”.

He did not even “bother” to attend the trial in person and presented no witnesses in his defence, she added.

Carroll, on the other hand, presented 11 witnesses whom Kaplan argued powerfully corroborated her testimony about both the day of the alleged assault and its aftermath.

We're about to hear some of the closing arguments, so let's quickly look at the important names that will likely come up.

• E Jean Carroll - Former columnist accusing Donald Trump of raping her in the 90s.
• Donald Trump - The defendant and former president.
• Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin - Key to Carroll’s case are her two friends, whom Carroll says she confided about the incident in the days after the alleged assault. Both have taken the stand.
• Roberta A Kaplan - The lawyer representing E Jean Carroll. Kaplan's lawsuit led the Supreme Court to legalise gay marriage in 2015, and she co-founded the Times Up movement in the wake of the Me Too movement.
• Joseph Tacopina - One of the lawyers representing Donald Trump. He is also Trump's representation for unrelated criminal charges brought on him by the Manhattan district attorney. Tacopina's other clients have included Michael Jackson, Sean Hannity and A$AP Rocky.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from court

Donald Trump’s approach to this trial made some wonder if he was treating it with enough seriousness.

For one, he never attended court. His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, wanted to tell the jury that his absence was meant to avoid logistical and financial burdens on the city.

But the judge shot him down, noting the former president and Republican frontrunner was traveling for campaign events.

At another point, Trump was in Scotland opening a golf course.

Image source, Getty Images

Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner says Trump did himself an extraordinary disservice in disrespecting the process by not showing up.

Jurors, he added, were giving their time and attention, and expected him to do the same.

It wasn’t unusual that Trump chose not to testify, because anything he said could be used against him in other legal cases or investigations.

What was surprising though was his and his lawyers’ decision not to call any witnesses or present any evidence in his defense.

Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from court

This morning, Judge Lewis Kaplan laid out a timeline for what the jury can expect during the day.

He said Carroll’s lawyers will have about two hours to make their arguments, while he expects Trump’s side to speak for more than a couple of hours.

There will then be a short rebuttal from the plaintiff’s side.

The judge said he will likely instruct the jury on Tuesday morning, after which they will have the case.

The plaintiff’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan (not related to the judge) has now taken the stand as closing arguments begin.

E Jean Carroll has made her way into the New York City courthouse.

She will be present as the jury hears closing arguments from both legal teams.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Image source, Getty Images

The closely watched two-week New York civil rape trial against the former president has been filled with tense exchanges between lawyers and controversial remarks from the former president about women’s bodies.

Here are some of the key moments.

1. Carroll’s opening testimony offered an in-depth and graphic description of the assault she alleges happened in the Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store and the trauma she faced as a result. "As I'm sitting here today I can still feel it," she told the court.
2. During cross examination, Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina tried to cast doubt about the assault allegation, asking Carroll why she did not scream. “I'm telling you he raped me whether I screamed or not," she told Mr Tacopina at one point.
3. Lawyers for Carroll resurfaced Trump’s controversial 2005 Access Hollywood tape, which features the former president saying you can “grab women by the [expletive]”. During a video-taped deposition, Trump seemed to double down on the remarks, claiming: “if you look over the last million years, that’s been largely true - not always true, but largely true, unfortunately or fortunately.”
4. At one point in the video deposition, Trump appeared to mistake Carroll for his ex-wife, Marla Maple, which Carroll’s lawyers argued undermined Trump’s claims the writer was “not his type”. Shown an old photo of himself with others at an event including Carroll, Trump said, “It’s Marla”, before his lawyer told him the woman he referenced in the photo was indeed Carroll.

Image source, Court evidence

Ms Carroll, 79, says the attack occurred at a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan in late 1995 or early 1996.

The pair had bumped into each other while shopping, she said.

Trump then allegedly asked her for advice when buying lingerie for another woman and jokingly asked her to model it for him.

But once in the changing rooms, Carroll claimed the real estate tycoon lunged at her, pinned her against a wall and assaulted her.

Carroll, whose "Ask E. Jean" advice column appeared in Elle magazine from 1993 to 2019, claims she managed to push him off after a "colossal struggle".

She did not report the alleged encounter to police, her complaint said, because she "was in shock and did not wish to think of herself as a rape victim".

Two of Carroll's friends, Carol Martin and Lisa Birnbach, have said the writer told them about the alleged incident within days.

Image source, Getty Images

The jury will deliberate on three things once closing statements wrap.

Count I - Battery - The jury must decide if Donald Trump is liable for battery when he allegedly “forcibly raped and groped” E Jean Carroll, as the lawsuit claims. Carroll’s team must have proved that Trump “intentionally, and without her consent, attacked Carroll to satisfy his own sexual desires”.

Count II - Defamation - The jury must decide if Trump’s comments on Truth Social in 2022 October “contained numerous falsehoods about Carroll” that “caused Carroll to suffer reputational, emotional, and professional harm”.

Prayer for Relief - In addition to the counts of battery and defamation, the jury will rule if Trump must retract his statements about Carroll and award her with “punitive and exemplary damages”.

A marketing professor told the jury that his post about her caused Carroll damages of an estimated $368,000 (£290,000) to $2.7m (£2.13m). The jury will also decide an additional sum for damages over the alleged battery.

Brandon Livesay
Live reporter

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the E Jean Carroll civil rape and defamation trial against former president Donald Trump.

We will hear closing arguments from both legal teams today in what will be a busy hearing at the New York City courtroom.

A verdict from the jury is expected tomorrow, but we will be keeping across all developments.

Nada Tawfik and Madeline Halpert are in court bringing us the latest updates, alongside US digital reporter Brandon Drenon and myself.