4 May: Trump denies rape claim in video deposition, calls it ‘ridiculous’ and ‘disgusting’
Former US president Donald Trump has vehemently denied the allegations of rape made by writer E. Jean Carroll, calling them “the most ridiculous, disgusting story” in a video deposition shown in court on Wednesday.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist, has accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. She is seeking unspecified damages and a retraction of Trump’s statements that she claims were defamatory.
In the video deposition taken in October, Trump said he never met Carroll and that the alleged assault never happened. He argued that the store was “very busy” and that someone would have heard or seen something if it did happen.
“If it did happen, it would have been reported within minutes,” Trump said. “It’s just made up.”
The jury watched about 30 minutes of excerpts from the deposition, in which Trump also said that Carroll was “not my type” and that her claims were politically motivated.
The trial also heard from another witness, Natasha Stoynoff, a former writer for People magazine, who testified that Trump forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005. She said she decided to go public after seeing the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals without consent.
Trump’s lawyers said they would not call any witnesses and that the former president would not testify. They have tried to dismiss the case as frivolous and argued that Trump was immune from civil lawsuits while in office.
The judge said closing arguments would likely happen on Monday and the jury would begin deliberations on Tuesday.
Trump, who is facing several other legal challenges, including a criminal indictment for tax fraud, told reporters in Ireland on Wednesday that he was “doing very well” in New York.