Trump attends mother-in-law’s funeral in Florida while New York defamation trial resumes

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he will be absent from a federal courtroom in New York as his attorneys continue to cross-examine E. Jean Carroll, the columnist who alleges Mr. Trump raped her in a 1996 department store and later defamed her.

Mr. Trump is in Palm Beach, Florida, for the funeral of his mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs, the mother of former first lady Melania Trump.

The GOP front-runner for president is crisscrossing the East Coast to balance the funeral, courtroom drama in Manhattan and campaign rallies in New Hampshire ahead of the GOP primary on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump, posting on Truth Social, said he would return to the Granite State for “big Rallies over the weekend.”

“Staying through Election Night, but today will be devoted to the funeral (Celebration!!!) of a GREAT WOMAN, ‘Babi,’ the Beloved Mother of Melania and Grandmother of Barron — And what a Woman she was!!!” he posted.

It is unclear if Mr. Trump will leave New Hampshire to testify in the civil trial on Monday, as his team suggested earlier.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan denied repeated requests by Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, to suspend the trial on Thursday so Mr. Trump would not miss court action.

Knavs, 78, died on Jan. 9 after an undisclosed illness. Mr. Trump and his family will attend the funeral at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, which is not far from Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

In New York, nine jurors are considering if Ms. Carroll is entitled to new damages because of comments Mr. Trump made as president in 2019.

A previous jury awarded her $5 million after finding Mr. Trump liable for sex abuse and defamation claims related to her claims and the former president’s comments from 2022.

The court said the liability finding from the first trial would carry over to the second trial, so jurors need only determine how much Mr. Trump must pay.

The trial is occurring days after Mr. Trump romped to victory in the Iowa caucuses and before New Hampshire primary voters have their say.

Ms. Habba will finish her cross-examination of Ms. Carroll on Thursday. The attorney began Wednesday by attacking Ms. Carroll as a publicity-seeking person who liked to hang out with Trump critics.

Though he won’t be in court, Mr. Trump continued to lash out at Ms. Carroll online.

“I’ve said it once & I’ll say it again, a thousand times. Until this ridiculous Hoax was revealed to me by the Fake News Media, I never heard of E. Jean Carroll, never had anything to do with her, never would want to have anything to do with her,” he posted Thursday, adding he never brought her into a changing room in a New York department store.