A lawyer for former United States President Donald Trump has known as a rape and defamation case introduced by the author E Jean Carroll an affront to the justice system.
Throughout closing arguments in a civil trial in Manhattan federal court docket on Monday, lawyer Joseph Tacopina urged jurors to put aside any opinions they may have about Trump and reject what he known as Carroll’s effort to “revenue” from a false story.
“What E Jean Carroll has finished right here is an affront to justice. She has abused this technique by bringing a false declare for — amongst different issues — cash, standing, political causes,” Tacopina stated.
Trump has accused Carroll of constructing up the story to drive gross sales of her 2019 memoir, by which she made her claims public.
Carroll, 79, filed her lawsuit final yr towards Trump, 76, claiming he raped her in a dressing room on the Bergdorf Goodman division retailer in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996, after which defamed her by denying it occurred. The previous Elle journal recommendation columnist is in search of unspecified financial damages.
Her defamation declare considerations an October 2022 publish on Trump’s Fact Social platform by which he known as her allegations a “full con job” and “a Hoax and a lie”.
Earlier on Monday, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan stated a 2005 Entry Hollywood video by which Trump says girls let him “seize ’em by the p***y” bolstered the accounts of Carroll and different girls who accuse Trump of sexual assault.
“He admitted on video to doing precisely the sorts of issues which have introduced us right here to this courtroom,” Kaplan stated in her closing argument.
Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021 and is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, waived his proper to testify at trial and opted to not current a defence, playing that jurors will discover that Carroll did not make a persuasive case.
Tacopina stated Carroll’s incapability to recall the date of the alleged incident made it unimaginable for Trump to defend himself.
“With no date, no month, no yr, you possibly can’t current an alibi, you possibly can’t name witnesses,” he stated. “What they need is so that you can hate him sufficient to disregard the information.”
Trump has not attended the trial, which started on April 25, however advised reporters in Eire final Thursday that he “in all probability” would attend.
US District Choose Lewis Kaplan, who is just not associated to Carroll’s lawyer, stated he anticipated jurors to start deliberating on Tuesday.
In a video deposition performed for the jury final Wednesday, Trump denied raping Carroll.
“It’s probably the most ridiculous, disgusting story,” Trump stated within the video. “It’s simply made up.”
‘One single sample’
Carroll stated throughout three days of testimony and cross-examination that Trump slammed her towards the wall, put his fingers into her vagina after which inserted his penis.
Two of Carroll’s longtime associates testified that she advised them concerning the assault shortly after it occurred and stated they believed her.
Jurors additionally heard from two different girls who stated Trump sexually assaulted them in separate incidents a long time in the past. Trump denies these claims as nicely.
“Three completely different girls, a long time aside, however one single sample of behaviour,” Roberta Kaplan stated, arguing that Trump’s defence was asking jurors to consider the “ridiculous” declare that the opposite witnesses conspired to lie.
Kaplan didn’t specify the amount of cash jurors ought to award Carroll in compensatory and punitive damages.
She stated Carroll had been unable to maintain a romantic relationship for the reason that alleged rape and that Trump’s public criticism had harmed her consumer’s status.
“For E Jean Carroll, this lawsuit is just not concerning the cash,” Kaplan stated. “This lawsuit is about getting her identify again.”