NEW YORK: Jurors watching Donald Trump’s video deposition on Thursday heard the former president mock a woman accusing him of rape as “crazy work” and “mentally ill,” while an expert estimated that AssetEarlier public denials could have caused nearly $3 million in reputational damage to the accuser.
A transcript of Trump’s testimony about E. Jean Carroll appeared in court filings before the trial, but the deposition played in court allowed jurors to hear him speak about the case in his own voice. Other parts of the recording were presented in court on Wednesday.
Carroll’s attorneys closed their case after releasing the remaining deposition excerpts and calling three witnesses, including a friend who said Carroll told him about the alleged rape shortly afterwards.
Trump’s lawyers, who called no witnesses, also tried to close their case, but Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would give them until Sunday to make sure Trump has no doubts afterwards. decided not to testify in his own defence.
Speaking to reporters Thursday during a golf trip to Ireland, Trump suggested he would ‘probably attend’ the trial, but lawyer Joseph Tacopina said he was not expected to. . Barring an appearance from Trump, Kaplan said, attorneys will make closing arguments on Monday.
Trump in Ireland also repeated his claim that the case is a political “scam”. He called Kaplan, a Bill Clinton appointee, an “extremely hostile” and “rough” judge who “don’t like me very much.”
Kaplan, who was angered early in the trial when Trump criticized the case on social media, did not respond to his final remarks.
The video released Thursday also included Trump holding back his earlier comments that Carroll was not his ‘type’ and defending as a ‘locker room discussion’ his notorious boasts in a 2005 ‘Access Hollywood’ recording about the seizure of women’s genitals. .
Later, Northwestern University sociologist Ashlee Humphreys testified that a statement Trump made in October 2022 reiterating earlier denials caused between $368,000 and $2.76 million in reputational damage to Carroll.
Trump’s statement, posted on his Truth Social platform just days before he sat down for the deposition, was seen by about 13.8 to 18 million people, Humphreys said. She cited social science modeling she performed on behalf of Carroll’s attorneys.
Trump’s earlier denials caused even more reputational damage, Humphreys said, such as when Trump claimed he had never met Carroll and when he said she was “totally” lying immediately after she was published. in June 2019.
Those estimates could be a factor if the jury finds Trump defamed Carroll and must weigh damages. She is asking for an unspecified sum of money and a retraction of Trump’s statements which she says were defamatory.
Carroll, a 79-year-old writer and former magazine advice columnist, alleges that Trump raped her in the dressing room of an upscale New York department store in the spring of 1996.
According to Carroll, they bumped into each other, engaged in light-hearted banter about trying on lingerie, and jokingly went into the dressing room, where he slammed the door and suddenly became violent.
It wasn’t until 2019 that she went public with the accusations and took legal action, but two of her friends testified that she described the attack to them shortly after Carroll said she had happened.
“I believed it then, and I believe it now,” one of those friends, former TV news anchor Carol Martin, told the witness stand Thursday.
Trump, 76, says Carroll fabricated the entire encounter and never met her except for a brief exchange of pleasantries at a social event in 1987.
“I think she’s sick, mentally ill,” Trump said calmly during the deposition. He added: “She said I did something to her that never happened. There was nothing. I don’t know anything about that crazy job.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll did.
A transcript of Trump’s testimony about E. Jean Carroll appeared in court filings before the trial, but the deposition played in court allowed jurors to hear him speak about the case in his own voice. Other parts of the recording were presented in court on Wednesday.
Carroll’s attorneys closed their case after releasing the remaining deposition excerpts and calling three witnesses, including a friend who said Carroll told him about the alleged rape shortly afterwards.
Trump’s lawyers, who called no witnesses, also tried to close their case, but Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would give them until Sunday to make sure Trump has no doubts afterwards. decided not to testify in his own defence.
Speaking to reporters Thursday during a golf trip to Ireland, Trump suggested he would ‘probably attend’ the trial, but lawyer Joseph Tacopina said he was not expected to. . Barring an appearance from Trump, Kaplan said, attorneys will make closing arguments on Monday.
Trump in Ireland also repeated his claim that the case is a political “scam”. He called Kaplan, a Bill Clinton appointee, an “extremely hostile” and “rough” judge who “don’t like me very much.”
Kaplan, who was angered early in the trial when Trump criticized the case on social media, did not respond to his final remarks.
The video released Thursday also included Trump holding back his earlier comments that Carroll was not his ‘type’ and defending as a ‘locker room discussion’ his notorious boasts in a 2005 ‘Access Hollywood’ recording about the seizure of women’s genitals. .
Later, Northwestern University sociologist Ashlee Humphreys testified that a statement Trump made in October 2022 reiterating earlier denials caused between $368,000 and $2.76 million in reputational damage to Carroll.
Trump’s statement, posted on his Truth Social platform just days before he sat down for the deposition, was seen by about 13.8 to 18 million people, Humphreys said. She cited social science modeling she performed on behalf of Carroll’s attorneys.
Trump’s earlier denials caused even more reputational damage, Humphreys said, such as when Trump claimed he had never met Carroll and when he said she was “totally” lying immediately after she was published. in June 2019.
Those estimates could be a factor if the jury finds Trump defamed Carroll and must weigh damages. She is asking for an unspecified sum of money and a retraction of Trump’s statements which she says were defamatory.
Carroll, a 79-year-old writer and former magazine advice columnist, alleges that Trump raped her in the dressing room of an upscale New York department store in the spring of 1996.
According to Carroll, they bumped into each other, engaged in light-hearted banter about trying on lingerie, and jokingly went into the dressing room, where he slammed the door and suddenly became violent.
It wasn’t until 2019 that she went public with the accusations and took legal action, but two of her friends testified that she described the attack to them shortly after Carroll said she had happened.
“I believed it then, and I believe it now,” one of those friends, former TV news anchor Carol Martin, told the witness stand Thursday.
Trump, 76, says Carroll fabricated the entire encounter and never met her except for a brief exchange of pleasantries at a social event in 1987.
“I think she’s sick, mentally ill,” Trump said calmly during the deposition. He added: “She said I did something to her that never happened. There was nothing. I don’t know anything about that crazy job.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll did.
