Trump Defends Himself in Sexual Assault Defamation Case   

In this courtroom sketch, Donald Trump, right, testifies in Federal Court in New York while Judge Lewis Kaplan, left, listens, Jan. 25, 2024. E. Jean Carroll arrives at Manhattan federal court in New York, Jan. 25, 2024.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, the leading 2024 Republican presidential contender, briefly took the witness stand Thursday at a New York trial to defend himself against allegations that he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll by disparaging her claim that he sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.