Donald Trump: Rape jury set to begin deliberations Tuesday

The civil assault and defamation trial of E. Jean Carroll against Donald Trump came to an end on Monday (8) with closing arguments.

The writer’s attorney told a federal grand jury in New York that no one is above the law.

“In this country, even the most powerful person can be held accountable in court,” said attorney Roberta Kaplan. “No one, not even a former president, is above the law.”

Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina said he knows the former president is a controversial figure, but that shouldn’t matter to jurors when reaching a verdict.

“People have very strong feelings about Donald Trump. This is obvious, ”he said. “There is a secret time and place to do this: it’s called a ballot box during an election.”

“They want you to hate him enough to ignore the facts,” added Tacopina. “All objective evidence goes against it.”

Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleges that Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the spring of 1996 and then vilified her when he denied her allegation, said she was not his type, and suggested that she fabricated the story to heighten the sales of her book. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.

Attorneys for Carroll and Trump closed their respective cases last Thursday. Carroll’s legal team put 11 witnesses on her case, including the writer herself, during the seven-day trial.

Trump did not defend himself and ended up choosing not to testify, as is his right. The judge Lewis Kaplan pointed out that Trump did not attend the trial, although clips of his testimony were shown.

“And you only saw him on video. He didn’t even bother to show up here in person,” she said.

Carroll’s lawyer showed clips of Trump’s video testimony last October, including a time when Trump mistook Carroll for his ex-wife. “It shows, Kaplan said, that Carroll “was exactly his type”.

Tacopina pointed out that the former president did not need to appear in court to testify in his defense. “How do you prove a negative?”.

“Challenging history is our defense. There are no witnesses for us to call. There is no witness for us to call because he was not there, it did not happen, ”he declared.

Tacopina said Trump did not defame Carroll when he denied her false accusations on social media.

Trump’s attorney told jurors not to get confused by the verdict form when they see it.

“If there is no rape, there is no defamation. There was no sexual assault and there was no defamation, they go hand in hand.”

“Access Hollywood” tape

The jury rewatched the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape and heard Trump describe how he aggressively attacks women without their consent because they allow it “when you’re a star.”

Trump revealed his “playbook” for dealing with women on tape when he thought no one was listening, Kaplan said. “Telling in his own words how he treats women.”

According to the judge, Trump and his lawyers want the jury to believe that Carroll and the other witnesses in her case are part of a grand “hoax” to overthrow the former president.

“The big lie,” Kaplan called it. “There is only one person here who is lying and that person is Donald Trump.”

To side with Trump’s defense, “you would have to conclude that Donald Trump, the tireless liar, is the only person in this room telling the truth.”

Tacopina responded by criticizing Trump’s language on the tape, but said the crass nature still doesn’t make Carroll’s allegations true.

“They are trying to take away parts of Donald Trump that you don’t like or even hate,” Tacopina said.

“You might think that Donald Trump is a rude and crass person and that his story doesn’t make sense. Both of those things could be true.”

Carroll’s attorney also showed the jury a chart charting how the claims of Carroll, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff reveal a pattern of aggressive behavior.

In each woman’s testimony at the trial, they described how Trump first engaged them in a semi-public location, then allegedly grabbed them suddenly, then denied the allegations and said “she’s too ugly for anyone to assault,” Kaplan said.

Trump has denied Leeds and Stoynoff’s allegations against him.

“Three different women, decades apart, but a single pattern of behavior. What happened to Mrs. Carroll is not unique in this regard. Trump’s physical and verbal attacks are his standard operating procedure,” Kaplan said.

The jury in this case can award damages to Carroll if they believe his account.

“For E. Jean Carroll, this lawsuit is not about money,” Kaplan said. “It’s about getting her good name back.”

“I’m not going to stand here and tell you how much you owe E. Jean Carroll. What is the price for decades living alone without company? No one to cook dinner with, no one to walk the dog with, no one to watch TV with. And feeling for decades that you’re dirty and unworthy,” Kaplan said. “I’m not going to put a number on it.”

Responding in his closing, Tacopina accused Carroll of fabricating his rape allegations to sell his book and make money.

“She abused that system, making false allegations, among other things, for money, status and political reasons,” Tacopina told the jury. “You cannot let her profit millions of dollars by abusing this process.”

District Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation to Roberta Kaplan) is expected to instruct and direct the grand jury to begin deliberations on Tuesday. This story has been updated with additional developments.