The footage of former President Donald Trump‘s deposition from October 2022 in the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll was released on Friday.
Inner City Press wrote a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the defamation trial, on Wednesday, asking for the deposition and other pieces of evidence to be released to the public.
JUDGE IN E. JEAN CARROLL DEFAMATION CASE GIVES TRUMP DEADLINE FOR TESTIMONY
“Inner City Press and others have been covering this case involving a former president of the United States being sued for battery / sexual assault as well as defamation,” Matthew Lee of Inner City Press wrote to Kaplan. “The exhibits, as well as the still-sealed motions and briefs, are of public interest.”
In 2019, Carroll came forward with allegations that the former president raped her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. She is now suing him for civil battery and defamation to receive unspecified damages.
The deposition, which lasted about 48 minutes, included several sections when he was asked about Carroll and the allegations, which he has adamantly denied and called a “hoax.”
“It didn’t take place,” Trump said in the deposition video. “She is a sick person, in my opinion. Really sick. There is something wrong with her.”
In one section of the video, he repeatedly said that Carroll was “not my type” despite mistaking her for his former wife Marla Maples in a photo from the 1980s showing him, Carroll, her then-husband, and Trump’s then-wife Ivana Trump together. He has also denied at times even knowing Carroll at all.
The defense and the prosecution rested their cases on Thursday, shortly after the jury watched the Access Hollywood tape, known for catching Trump on a hot microphone in 2005 when he said his fame allowed him to do “anything” he wanted, including groping and grabbing women.
In the deposition, the former president said the comments were “locker room talk,” which is the same excuse he used to dismiss the tape’s contents during the 2016 presidential election.
Trump told Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, no relation to the judge, during his deposition, “Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” when asked about his comments.
Kaplan responded, “True with stars that they can grab women?”
“Well, that’s what — if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true,” Trump has said. “Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.”
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Judge Kaplan gave Trump a deadline of Sunday at 5 p.m. to decide whether he will take the witness stand and testify. While his lawyers have said he will not, the former president told reporters on Thursday that he will “probably attend” the trial. If he does decide to testify, the judge may reopen the defense’s case — otherwise, closing arguments will begin on Monday.
Trump is the front-runner for the Republican primary in 2024, and a guilty verdict could be particularly significant as it will be the first time Trump has been held legally responsible for sexual assault despite dozens of women accusing him of that and other sexual misconduct for years.
