Former President Donald Trump’s rape trial included days of testimony from his accuser, a statement saying she was not his type but confused her with his ex, and the infamous “p****” tape that E. Jean Carroll said amounted to a confession.
All were potentially pivotal moments in a rape trial that Trump has said is a hoax and that his belligerent attorney says may have been fabricated from TV headlines. They were all part of courtroom proceedings that saw aggressive questioning by Trump attorney Joe Tacopina — and where Trump chose not to appear, in a move opposing lawyers tried to use against him to say whether he should be believed.
Ultimately, a jury of six men and three women found Trump not liable for the alleged rape — but did find him liable for sexual assault, assault, and defamation, in a verdict that placed a $5 million price tag on the defamation and defamation. Trump vowed to appeal before the verdict came out.
Trump doubles down on ‘grab women by the p****’ Access Hollywood comments, defends ‘stars’ usually do it
The jury was shown the infamous Access Hollywood tape released just before the 2016 election showing Trump on a hot microphone bragging about groping women
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan allowed Carroll’s lawyers to play excerpts from Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.
The tape wasn’t enough to derail Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign — although it drove some mainstream Republican office holders away from him for a while. But Carroll’s lawyers pitched it as an admission of how Trump thinks he can act towards women.
On the tape, where Trump speaks with former host Billie Bush, the two men joke as Trump brags about grabbing women “by the p****” when “you’re a star.”
‘I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I’m not even waiting,” Trump brags on the tape.
Trump did not shy away from the comments. “Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” he told Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan.
“Is it true with stars that they can grab women by the p****?” she asked.
Well, that’s what, if you look at the last million years, I think that’s been mostly true. Not always, but mostly true. Unfortunately or fortunately,” he said.
“And you consider yourself a star?” Kaplan asked him, leaving his “happy” remark alone.
‘I think you can say that. Yes,” Trump acknowledged.
Roberta Kaplan played the clip during the trial and again during the closing arguments. She said Trump shared his “playbook” for how he behaves, “telling in his own words how he treats women.”
Trump was heard on another tape again and minimized the comments as just “locker room talk.”
“He tells you, in his own words, his modus operandi, his working method,” Kaplan said during her closing arguments on Monday.
Jury hears from Trump through his video statements – and sees the moment he confused E. Jean Carroll with ex-wife Marla Maples
The trial included testimony from Carroll and tape of Trump’s statement
Former President Trump complained about the trial after the ruling
Jurors didn’t get to hear former President Trump in person, but they heard him defend himself at length against a barrage of questions from Carroll’s attorney — whom he attacked during his videotaped statement for not being his type.
The statement showed that Trump was combative and at times inconsistent.
At a key moment, he was shown a photo showing himself with Carroll – which may have already undermined his claim that he didn’t know her.
When asked to identify the woman in the photo, Trump replied, “That’s Marla, that’s my wife.”
Only with the help of his lawyer, Alina Habba, did he find out that it was indeed Carroll.
‘I don’t even know who the woman is. Let’s see, I don’t know who — it’s Marla,” Trump said.
That prompted Roberta Kaplan to interject: “You say Marla is in this picture?
‘That’s Marla, yes. That’s, that’s my wife.’
Not only did the exchange undermine the certainty of Trump’s memory regarding the era, it also undermined his claim that his accuser was not “my type.”
When asked about it, Trump told the attorney, “I saw her in a picture. I didn’t know what she looked like. And I said it, and I say it with as much respect as I can, but she’s not my type.’
Then Kaplan delivered the blow. “I take it the three women you married are all your type?”
“Yes,” Trump told her.
In the same statement, Trump called his accuser a “goofball” and went after the attorney’s questioning, which wouldn’t necessarily endear him to the jury.
‘I’m not a screamer. I was panicking, fighting’: Carroll’s testimony under cross-examination by Trump attorney Joe Tacopina
Trump Attorney Joe Tacopina Asked Prosecutor E. Jean Carroll Why She Didn’t Scream During Alleged Attack
Carroll’s team used Trump’s words on the “Access Hollywood” tape against him. He told Billy Bush “I moved her like a ****” while describing an encounter with a woman
Trump hired a bulldog lawyer who has represented high-profile clients and is adept at defending his clients both on the air and in court.
Tacopina made the decision to solidify Carroll’s story, insisting why she didn’t remember the exact date of the alleged attack, questioning why she hadn’t called the police, and questioning why there were no staff outside the Bergdorf Goodman dressing would have been. room where she claims the attack took place, and asked why she didn’t scream.
As is often the case in rape trials, he faced the challenge of undermining her credibility without earning her sympathy from the jury by going after her.
At one point, he argued that Carroll retracted her claims from an episode of the TV show Law & Order.
He asked if she thought it was an “amazing coincidence” that her accusations were identical to a 2012 episode of Law & Order: SVU.
A jury heard that the episode was about a character who fantasizes about being raped in the lingerie locker room of the New York department store Bergdorf Goodman.
Carroll agreed it was similar, but denied watching SVU because she thought it was too violent.
Tacopina asked, “Five years before you come out with your story[about Trump]is it an amazing coincidence?”
Tacopina also returned to theory during his own closing arguments, calling Carroll’s actions fiction.
Tacopina also asked her why she didn’t scream during the alleged attack.
‘I’m not a shouter. I was panicking, fighting,” she testified.
Then she took on her interrogator. “You can’t beat me up for not yelling,” she scolded. Tacopina said he didn’t.
“People always ask, ‘Why didn’t you yell?’ Some women scream; some don’t,” Carroll said.
“He raped me whether I screamed or not,” she continued, in an appearance in which she cried in the stands but spoke strongly. “If I tried to lie, I’d say I was screaming my ass off, but I wasn’t screaming. I didn’t yell.’
Trump did not show up, claiming he was not allowed to testify
Trump said he cut short a trip to Ireland and Scotland to come and “confront” Carroll and her allegations, but that his team chose not to call him as a witness, despite the judge giving them extra time to do so
“I hear we’re doing really well in New York,” former President Donald Trump said when asked why he was visiting Ireland instead of attending his trial in New York
After Trump’s impeachment, it came as no surprise that his lawyers refused to allow him to appear at the trial.
But Trump himself brought up the possibility during a trip to visit his golf courses in Scotland and Ireland, telling reporters he cut short a trip to coincide with the trial to go home and “confront” Carroll.
In the end, he didn’t, as did his right as a defendant in a civil trial.
But that gave Carroll’s lawyers a chance to make the move as if it were an unwillingness to defend his position, or even a diss with the jury. Under the rules for such a civil trial, they could tell the jury to reach an unfavorable conclusion about his failure to testify in his own defense. That would not be allowed in a criminal case.
“In this country, even the most powerful person can be held accountable in court,” Kaplan said. “No one, not even a former president, is above the law.”
“There is one person who lies and that person is Donald Trump,” she said.
But Tacopina noted that Carroll’s team could have called Trump to testify and did not.