Questioned for a lawsuit, former President Donald Trump hurled insults and threatened to sue the columnist who accused him of raping her in a division retailer within the Nineties, in response to excerpts of his videotaped testimony unsealed by a court docket on Friday.
Parts of his 5½-hour October deposition in a lawsuit filed by columnist E. Jean Carroll have been launched publicly after a federal decide rejected his attorneys’ request that it remained sealed.
“She mentioned that I did one thing to her that by no means befell. There was no something. I do know nothing about this nut job,” he mentioned, in response to the transcript.
The excerpts reveal a contentious battle between Trump and Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, who questioned him as Trump known as the previous long-time Elle journal columnist the perpetrator of “a whole rip-off” by which she described the rape as she “was selling a extremely crummy guide.”
“I’ll sue her after that is over, and that’s the factor I actually stay up for doing. And I’ll sue you too,” he informed Kaplan.
The discharge of excerpts from the deposition got here the identical day as Choose Lewis A. Kaplan, unrelated to the lawyer, additionally refused a request by Trump’s attorneys to toss out two lawsuits by Carroll alleging defamation and rape. An April trial is deliberate.
Trump has repeatedly mentioned the encounter with Carroll within the mid-Nineties at an upscale Manhattan division retailer by no means occurred.
In his daylong testimony, he repeatedly attacked Carroll’s depiction of Trump as a rapist.
Trump mentioned he knew it wasn’t “politically appropriate” to say “she’s not my kind” when he responded to claims shortly after Carroll’s 2019 guide was printed, and the author alleged that she was attacked by Trump in a dressing room after they’d an opportunity assembly within the retailer and he or she agreed to assist him pick lingerie for a pal.
“However I’ll say it anyway,” he mentioned. “She’s accusing me of rape, a lady that I do not know who she is. It got here out of the blue. She’s accusing me of raping her, the worst factor you are able to do, the worst cost.”
Chatting with her legal professional, he added: “And it’s not true too. You’re a political operative additionally. You’re a shame. However she’s accusing me and so are you of rape, and it by no means befell.”
At one level within the deposition, Trump known as Carroll “sick, mentally sick.” He claimed that in an interview on CNN, Carroll had claimed to have loved being sexually assaulted. “She really indicated that she cherished it. Okay? She cherished it till industrial break,” Trump mentioned. “The truth is, I feel she mentioned it was horny, didn’t she? She mentioned it was very horny to be raped. Didn’t she say that?”
Carroll’s legal professional, Roberta Kaplan, then tried to elicit from Trump that he raped her consumer.
“So, sir, I simply wish to verify: It’s your testimony that E. Jean Carroll mentioned that she cherished being sexually assaulted by you?”
Trump answered: “Effectively, based mostly on her interview with Anderson Cooper, I consider that’s what befell. And we are able to outline that. … I feel she mentioned that rape was horny – which it’s not, by the best way.”
What Carroll has mentioned in her writing, and within the interview with Anderson, is that she doesn’t like to make use of the phrase rape as a result of another folks “suppose rape is horny.” She mentioned she most popular the time period “battle.”
At one other level within the deposition, Kaplan requested Trump if he had ever touched a lady on her breast or buttocks or another sexual half with out her consent.
“Effectively, I’ll inform you no, however you will have some folks like your consumer that lie,” he responded.
Earlier within the day, Choose Lewis A. Kaplan upheld the lawsuits alleging rape and defamation and looking for unspecified damages by Carroll, saying they may proceed to trial as a result of Trump’s challenges have been with out benefit.
“The truth that Mr. Trump denies Ms. Carroll’s allegations doesn’t enter into the evaluation at this stage of the case,” the Manhattan jurist wrote. “What, if something, really occurred should await additional proceedings if the criticism withstands the current movement.”
Alina Habba, an legal professional for Trump, mentioned in a press release: “Whereas we’re disenchanted with the Court docket’s resolution, we intend to right away enchantment the order and proceed to advocate for our consumer’s constitutionally protected rights.”
She didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark after the discharge of the deposition. Roberta Kaplan declined to remark.
In his ruling, the decide mentioned the Grownup Survivor’s Act was just like the Little one Victims Act, one other New York state regulation that quickly allowed victims of sexual assaults once they have been kids to sue their abusers years later.
Carroll initially sued Trump for defamation after he mocked her claims he sexually assaulted her. Carroll sued Trump with the rape declare in November, when the Grownup Survivor’s Act took impact.
