Former President Donald Trump’s legal team will not put on a defense case in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and battery case as per his attorney.
Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleges that Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!” when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.
The former Elle magazine columnist had added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations. Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.
Donald Trump not putting on a defense
It has been noted that Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina confirmed outside the presence of the jury that his legal team will not call a previously proposed expert witness due to logistical reasons related to health concerns for the witness.
The jury on Wednesday saw about 20 minutes of Trump’s video deposition taken last October in which he was questioned by Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan.Trump testified that he rarely “if ever” shopped at Bergdorf Goodman.
His initial statement denying Carroll’s allegations on June 21, 2019, was also read into the record. Trump confirmed it was his statement and that he still stands by it. Quotes from his interview with The Hill days later were also read into the record. He confirmed he made those comments and stands by them at the time of the deposition.
Trump also testified during the deposition that he never read Carroll’s New York Magazine excerpt or her book in which she accuses him of raping her.
Dr. Leslie Lebowitz, a clinical psychologist, testified Wednesday that she evaluated Carroll and found that she has no signs of thought or character disorders or mental illness, but that she has been harmed by the alleged rape by Trump.
