Posted in: 05/05/2023 – 02:58
Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday failed to appear in court in New York regarding a lawsuit filed against him by a journalist who accuses him of rape in the 1990s, but the jury was shown previous testimony he gave in a video in which he strongly denies the alleged facts. In this case, the nine-citizen panel will decide whether Trump should pay compensation to journalist E.J. Carroll. During his testimony, Trump reiterated that he did not know the journalist, who was then a columnist for Elle magazine, and repeatedly stressed that she was “not his type.”
absent Donald Trump On the civil trial in New York in a case in which a journalist accuses him of rape in the nineties, but the jury was briefed Thursday on previous testimony he gave in a video in which he strongly denies the alleged facts.
“She is a liar and sick (…) I think she is sick and suffers from mental disorders,” the former president confirmed in a video recorded while giving his statement in October 2022.
Due to his absence and the impossibility of questioning him, attorneys for the plaintiff, journalist E. Jean Carroll, requested that lengthy video excerpts be broadcast during the court session.
In this civil case, a nine-citizen jury will decide whether the former president should pay damages to Jane Carroll, who since 2019 has accused him of raping her in the spring of 1996 in the fitting room of a New York department store and then defaming her by claiming she was lying.
During his testimony, Trump reiterated that he did not know EJ Carroll, who was then a columnist for Elle magazine, and repeatedly stressed that she was “not his type.”
Then I showed him a photo taken during a social evening where he was with Jane Carroll years before the alleged encounter in 1996.
Trump confirmed that he did not remember the incident, and thought that Jane Carroll in the picture was his ex-wife, Marla, “She is my wife … She is Marla,” and immediately his lawyer tells him, “It is (EJ) Carroll.”
On Thursday, the jury was able to view a widely circulated video of Trump saying in 2005 derogatory things to women.
In the video, Trump boasted of kissing and touching them as he pleased, saying: “When you’re a star, women let you do that. You can do anything with them.”
“It’s really old news,” he said during his testimony, stressing that it was “conversations in the dressing room” or “the way the general public speaks.”
According to US media, Trump has been accused in the past by more than 20 women of sexually assaulting or inappropriate behavior with them. He denied the accusations and was never prosecuted.
However, a new law that became effective in New York as of November gives rape victims the right to sue even if decades have passed since the sexual assault. It gives them one year, after its issuance, to do so.