The unexpected strike came as E. Jean Carroll’s attorney asked jurors to decide how much Trump owes the plaintiff.

Former US President Donald Trump stormed out of his closing arguments Libel trial As E’s attorney, Jean Carroll asked a jury to award at least $24 million in damages for the “storm of hate” caused by Trump.

Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million for Trump defaming her in June 2019, while he was in the White House, by rejecting her claim that he raped her in the mid-1990s. She said Trump’s comments resulted in her being subjected to continuous attacks, including death threats, for four and a half years.

In her closing argument Friday in Manhattan federal court, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, urged jurors to punish Trump for persistently lying about her client and destroying her reputation as a truthful journalist.

“We all have to follow the law,” Kaplan said. “However, Donald Trump acts as if these rules and laws simply do not apply to him.

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

Just minutes after Kaplan began her argument, Trump suddenly rose from his seat at the defense table and headed for the exit. He paused to survey the crowded courtroom as members of the Secret Service jumped up to follow him out.

His unexpected departure prompted Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll’s attorney, to speak up and briefly pause the closing argument: “It will appear from the record that Mr. Trump just stood up and left the courtroom.”

Trump later returned to the courtroom to hear his lawyer Alina Habba argue that Trump should not pay Carroll for comments that incite hate messages from strangers.

Habba showed the jury a video in which Trump said a jury’s verdict last year that he sexually abused Carroll was “a disgrace” and “a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.”

“Do you know why he didn’t hesitate?” Habba asked the jury. “Because it’s the truth.”

The jury will now consider how much compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded to prevent repeat defamation.

“Trump is not a victim”

Trump, a Republican, is seeking to retake the White House in November’s election, in a likely showdown against Democrat and current President Joe Biden, who defeated him in 2020.

The race is expected to be close even as Trump faces four 91-felony criminal charges, including two counts accusing him of trying to illegally overturn his 2020 election defeat.

He has tried to use his legal travails as a campaign trump card, describing himself as a victim of biased prosecutors and an unfair justice system.

Carroll’s legal team urged the jury to ignore this.

“This is not a campaign event,” Shawn Crowley, another attorney for Carroll, said after Habba spoke.

“Donald Trump is not the victim. That is her [Carroll’s] Life. Help her take it back.”

Jurors in the current trial will only decide how much Trump owes Carroll for damaging her reputation and whether he should award punitive damages to stop him from defaming her again.

A damage assessor said that reputational damage alone was $7.3 million to $12.1 million.

Attorney Roberta Kaplan added that “unusually high” punitive damages may also be needed to deter billionaire Trump.

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