The defamation trial introduced in opposition to former President Donald Trump by author E. Jean Carroll, who alleges that Trump raped her in a dressing room within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, appeared to conclude on Thursday, barring any shock testimony from Trump.
The choose presiding over the case left the door open for Trump to talk earlier than the jurors in individual, as his protection group opted to not current proof or testimony from witnesses in the course of the trial. As an alternative, Trump’s attorneys merely argued in opposition to proof and witness testimony introduced by the plaintiff’s attorneys.
Though Trump has indicated that he might take up the provide to testify in individual, he has not but finished so. However Trump did reply questions from Caroll’s attorneys in a video deposition this week. Throughout that deposition, he insulted quite a few girls’s bodily appearances, suggesting they weren’t enticing sufficient for him to rape.
“No fewer than 4 instances, Trump has been seen by jurors disparaging the attractiveness of ladies who appeared in court docket,” Adam Klasfeld, managing editor for Legislation & Crime, reported this week.
The trial is based on Trump’s response to Carroll’s allegations lately that the previous president had raped her in 1996. Trump responded to the allegations by deriding Carroll on social media and alleging, with out proof, that she was making an attempt to break his picture.
In doing so, Trump “lied and shattered my status,” Carroll said, arguing on the witness stand final week that the previous president’s phrases impaired her profession and led to her firing at Elle journal as an recommendation columnist. “I’m right here to attempt to get my life again.”
Quite a few witnesses backed up Carroll’s claims in the course of the trial, testifying that she had known as them straight after the alleged rape to explain what had occurred. Nonetheless, Trump has maintained, with scant proof, that he didn’t rape Carroll — and through his deposition, he belittled and denigrate Carroll’s appearance, telling her lawyer Roberta Kaplan on the video that “she’s not my kind.”
“It’s not politically appropriate to say it. I do know that, however I’ll say it anyway,” Trump stated.
Trump went on to say that Kaplan was additionally unattractive to him. “You wouldn’t be a selection of mine both,” he stated to her.
Trump’s misogynistic line of protection was broadly condemned by observers. The previous president’s argument is “meaningless,” wrote Kansas City Star opinion columnist Melinda Henneberger, “as a result of even when it have been true that he doesn’t go for skinny blonde former magnificence queens, rape isn’t about attraction. It’s not about want, however domination. It’s not, ‘I such as you,’ however ‘I need to harm you.’”
Trump’s feedback in the course of the deposition appear to counsel he’s prepared to commit sexual assault, Henneberger went on. “Doesn’t that indicate that he wouldn’t thoughts raping somebody extra worthy of his mistreatment?” she stated.
Unfazed by Trump’s phrases, Kaplan continued questioning the witness, inquiring if Trump stood by his feedback in a leaked Entry Hollywood recording wherein he bragged about his capability to seize girls by their genitals as a result of his celeb, which made headlines in the course of the run-up to the 2016 election.
Trump defended his feedback.
“Traditionally that’s true with stars,” he stated. “Should you look during the last million years, that’s largely true, sadly — or luckily.”
When requested if Trump believed he was a star, he responded within the affirmative. “Yeah,” he stated.
Trump additionally claimed that he had no concept who Carroll was previous to her allegations in opposition to him. That assertion flies within the face of images offered by the protection displaying Trump and Carroll speaking to at least one one other at social gatherings.
When offered with a kind of photographs, taken in 1987, Trump mistook Carroll for his second wife, Marla Maples. When considered one of Carroll’s attorneys knowledgeable Trump that it was Carroll within the image, he backtracked, claiming the picture was “very blurry.”
Carroll’s attorneys concluded their case on Thursday. Trump’s authorized group additionally sought to wrap up the trial, refusing to name any witnesses and presenting no further proof.
Trump has till Sunday to resolve whether or not or to not testify in individual. Though his attorneys have stated that he gained’t take the stand, Trump, who was in Eire on Thursday, has said that he will “probably attend” the end of the trial to “confront” his accuser.
Trump additionally claimed, with out proof, that the choose was “extraordinarily hostile” towards him in the course of the trial.
Because the trial has wound down, a number of observers have recommended Carroll for refusing to permit Trump to break her profession and status unchallenged.
“Whether or not or not Carroll wins this case, it’s her bravery, and the bravery of those that have come earlier than her, together with Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford, that may be a testomony to how far we’ve come,” wrote Amber Tamblyn, a member of the MeToo motion, in an op-ed this week for The Los Angeles Times. “Even when she loses the combat to carry Trump accountable for his actions in a court docket of legislation, Carroll has gained the flexibility to take again her personal story, publicly, and to be an instance for others to contemplate doing the identical.”
…we wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t necessary.
Truthout is likely one of the few actually impartial newsrooms left. Go searching our web site — there’s no paywall or sponsored content material. We’re a crucial useful resource for closely-researched information and evaluation, all supplied for free of charge to readers such as you.
How have we revealed high-quality, free content material for greater than 20 years? By means of the generosity of our readers. Not everybody can afford to donate, however when you’re somebody who can, please assist us maintain this important useful resource alive. Whether or not it’s $5 or $50, each greenback helps!
