Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “Radical, Woke NARA, which placed nasty Warning Labels on our great Constitution, Declaration of Independence, & Bill of Rights, colluded with the Department of Injustice, FBI, & Hopeless Joe Biden & his lawyers to try and hide the FACT that Joe has, & had, Classified Documents at his China funded “Think Tank,” & other locations.
These same Weaponized Agencies Persecute & Harass me, my family, & my supporters. They are a disgrace! RESTORE EQUAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. Shut down the Marxists. MAGA!!!”
E. Jean Carroll’s trial against former President Donald Trump is set to start in April. The former president’s legal team has a new plot that they hope will dismantle her case and cast serious doubt on the claims that Trump raped her sometime in the mid-1990s.
The last-minute surprise centers on the one piece of physical evidence—an infamous black coat dress—that Carroll says she was wearing when he allegedly forced her against a wall at a Manhattan department store and sexually assaulted her.
For three years, Carroll has hectored Trump over the tantalizing prospect that his DNA is still on the dress—a prospect that’s been made even more tantalizing because Trump won’t submit to a DNA test.
Donald Trump agrees to hand over his DNA
Trump finally agreed he that will at some point, let his lawyers collect a sample of his DNA for comparison.
As with most things involving Trump, the truth is far more complex. According to a source familiar with his defense team’s new strategy, Trump’s proposition has not yet been made to the opposing side. But if they follow through, it would position them to tell jurors his DNA was offered—just never tested.
Notably, the deadline for opposing sides to exchange evidence has already passed, convenient timing that’s drawing criticism that Trump’s offer is a trap.
“It sounds like a continuation of the dilatory tactics that Trump uses all the time,” said Albert Scherr, a University of New Hampshire law school professor who serves as one of the nation’s top experts on forensic DNA evidence. “As a general rule, Trump’s lawyers in every venue have the strong propensity to delay and delay and muck things up.”
Until now, the dress was supposed to be Carroll’s ace up her sleeve.
At trial, the thinking was her attorneys could ask jurors to infer Trump’s guilt by pointing to his refusal to test his DNA against the Donna Karan coat she wore on the day she claims he raped her. At a civil trial, it’s like pleading the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination; don’t answer, and jurors can assume you’re guilty as sin.
“It’s referred to as ‘consciousness of liability evidence.’ You can draw an adverse inference from the fact that someone refused to participate in relevant scientific testing,” said Edward J. Imwinkelried, a retired law professor at University of California, Davis.
But now, Trump’s lawyers could shoot back with a counterpoint: He did offer his DNA. His accuser simply wouldn’t test it.
