Jury to start deliberations in suit accusing Trump of rape
The jury is set to begin deliberations in a civil trial over advice given by an accountant that allegedly led to losses by investors.
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E. Jean Carroll appears in federal court, New York on Monday, 8 May 2023. Former President Donald Trump rejected his last opportunity to testify in a civil case where a longtime advice columnist accused him of raping the woman in a luxury department-store dressing room in 1996.
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This image is taken from a video released by Kaplan Hecker & Fink. Former President Donald Trump responds to questions during his deposition on Oct. 19, 2022 for his trial against author E. Jean Carroll. First made public on Friday, May 5, 20,23, the video recording of Trump's denials of the rape accusations against him. (Kaplan Hecker & Fink via AP)
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NEW YORK, NY (AP) - A civil trial in New York City will begin Tuesday with a jury deliberating on the claims of advice columnist E. Jean Carroll that Donald Trump raped in a Manhattan luxury department store in 1996.
The U.S. district judge Lewis A. Kaplan, will give instructions to the nine jurors on the law for an hour or so before they begin discussing civil claims such as battery and defamation.
Jurors who believe Carroll can award punitive and compensatory damages. Trump, who was not present at the trial, insisted that he had never sexually abused Carroll or even known her.
Joe Tacopina said in his closing arguments on Monday that Carroll’s story was too unbelievable to believe. He claimed she made up the story to boost sales of her 2019 memoir, where she revealed it publicly for the first time and to disparage Trump politically.
Roberta Kaplan cited Trump's deposition from October and his famous comments in a 2005 video of 'Access Hollywood,' where he claimed that celebrities could grab women by the legs without their consent.
She asked jurors to trust her client.
Kaplan said that Trump did not bother to appear in court personally during the two-week trial. She said that much of what Trump said in his public statements and deposition 'actually supports the side we are on'.
She said, "In a real sense, Donald Trump has to testify against himself." He knows what he has done. He knows he sexually abused E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll, who is 79 years old, said that she met Trump by chance at the Bergdorf Goodman department store, which is located across from Trump Tower. She described it as a playful exchange in which the two teased one another about trying on some lingerie, before Trump got violent in a dressing room.
Tacopina said that there was no need to call Trump, as a potential witness, when Carroll couldn't remember when she met Trump.
He said Carroll made up the claims after hearing an episode of "Law and Order" in 2012 in which a Bergdorf Goodman lingerie store had a woman raped.
Carroll said that Carroll's secret plan was based on an episode from one of the most watched shows on TV.
Two of Carroll’s friends testified she told them the story about her encounter with Trump soon after it occurred, and many years before 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' aired.