Donald Trump plans to testify in his own defense at a trial in April over the defamation claim made by New York author E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her in the 1990s.
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump plans to testify in his own defense at a trial in April over the defamation claim made by New York author E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her in the 1990s.
The former president put himself at the top of a list of witnesses he plans to call at the trial, which a federal judge in New York has scheduled to start April 25 before a jury, according to a court filing late Thursday.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, went public with her allegations in 2019, claiming Trump assaulted her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s. Trump, then president, accused her of fabricating the attack to sell a book. Carroll sued him for defamation. She’s filed a second complaint against Trump last year under New York’s new Adult Survivors Act.
Trump has already given sworn testimony in the case, calling Carroll a “whack job” and “liar” during a pre-trial deposition. During that Oct. 19 interview, he mistook a 1980s photograph of Carroll with an image of his ex-wife Marla Maples, according to a partially unsealed transcript.
Read More: Trump Confused Rape Accuser Carroll With Ex-Wife in Deposition
Joseph Tacopina, a lawyer for Trump, declined to comment.
Carroll has proposed calling herself to testify in the case as well as two women she said she told about the alleged assault, according to the court filing.
In December, Carroll filed a partial transcript of her October testimony, showing Trump attorney Alina Habba elicited information about Carroll’s love life and emotional turmoil, as well as fresh details of the alleged assault in the 1990s. She had filed excerpts of both her deposition and Trump’s in support of arguments to expedite evidence-gathering in the case.
Read More: Trump Rape Accuser Carroll Pressed on Claims in Deposition
The case is Carroll v. Trump, 20-cv-7311, US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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