The trial of E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of sexually assaulting the New York writer in a department store in the 1990s is drawing to a conclusion, with closing statements on Monday to be followed by jury deliberations starting Tuesday.
(Bloomberg) — The trial of E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of sexually assaulting the New York writer in a department store in the 1990s is drawing to a conclusion, with closing statements on Monday to be followed by jury deliberations starting Tuesday.
The trial, in federal court in Manhattan, is wrapping up after seven days of testimony from almost a dozen witnesses called by Carroll, who also alleges Trump defamed her by calling her a liar when she wrote about the alleged attack. Trump didn’t call any witnesses and decided not to attend the trial.
Read More: Trump’s Fate in Rape Lawsuit in Hands of Librarian, Janitor
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in her closing argument that Trump’s “modus operandi” with women was exposed by the Access Hollywood tape in which he made unguarded remarks about kissing women without waiting for consent and about famous men being allowed to grope women.
“That is how he thinks and that is what he does,” Kaplan told the jury of six men and three women. “He thinks stars like him can get away with it. He thinks he can get away with it here.”
Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, went public in 2019 with her claim that Trump raped her in a sixth-floor dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1996. She sued him for battery last year under a New York law that temporarily lifts the statute of limitations on such claims.
Tacopina’s Closing
Trump, who is seeking to regain the White House in the 2024 race, denies wrongdoing and says the case is part of a broader partisan effort to take him down. His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, delivered a blistering closing after Kaplan’s that accused Carroll of fabricating the attack and enlisting two friends to falsely corroborate her story by testifying at trial.
Tacopina, who called the case a “scam of a lawsuit,” reiterated his argument that Carroll made up her account to sell her book and that her story was inconsistent and unbelievable. He urged the jury to have the “courage” to find Trump not liable even if they dislike him.
“Can we afford to sweep away the law because we don’t like the defendant?” he said. “If the law is not strong enough to protect all of our citizens equally, including the most unpopular, then it deserves the contempt of all.”
Read More: Trump Lawyer Tacopina Has a Lot in Common With His Client
Carroll’s lawyer Mike Ferrara got the last word in a rebuttal to Tacopina’s summation. He said it was absurd to suggest that Carroll and her friends would conspire to falsely accuse Trump of sexual assault when earlier, similar allegations had failed to prevent him from being elected president in 2016.
‘Never Looked You in the Eye’
Ferrara also balked at Tacopina’s claim that Carroll based her account on a fictional incident from a 2012 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that briefly referred to a consensual sexual encounter in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman lingerie department.
“According to the defendant, these women were so stupid that they stole this idea from a Law & Order episode,” Ferrara said.
He ended by calling Trump out for not testifying.
“Donald Trump never looked you in the eye and denied it,” he said.
Read More: Trump Trial for Rape Suit Renews Focus on Treatment of Women
Here are some of the key witnesses who have taken the stand over the past two weeks, and the main points of their testimony. The jury of six men and three women will weigh this testimony, along with the other evidence in the case, in its deliberations. As a civil trial, there is a lower bar for a finding of liability against the defendant than there is in a criminal trial for a verdict of guilty. Even if he loses, though, Trump doesn’t face any time behind bars.
‘Shattered My Reputation’
E. Jean Carroll: The plaintiff testified under oath for two days, breaking down in tears on more than one occasion as she described the alleged assault in graphic detail to her lawyer. Under cross-examination by Trump’s attorney, she testified that she stayed quiet for years because she believed Trump would destroy her if she spoke up, only to watch him do just that when she went public. “He shattered my reputation, and I’m trying to get my life back,” she told the jurors.
Read More: Trump’s Lawyer Presses E. Jean Carroll on Details of Alleged Attack
Lisa Birnbach: A writer and close friend of Carroll’s, Birnbach testified that Carroll called her within seven minutes of the alleged assault to tell her in detail what had just happened that evening in 1996. Birnbach, known for her best-selling 1980 tome The Official Preppy Handbook, said Carroll was initially reluctant to accept that she had been raped and refused her suggestion to call the police. Birnbach told the jurors that Carroll swore her to secrecy and silence. “I promised her both of those things,” she said.
Jessica Leeds: One of two witnesses who previously accused Trump of sexual assault, Leeds gave testimony intended to show a pattern of behavior by the former president. Leeds testified that Trump assaulted her in 1979 on a flight to New York while she sat next to him in first class.
Read More: Trump Jury Hears From Woman Who Claims ’70s Assault on Plane
Natasha Stoynoff: The former People magazine journalist who covered Trump for several years testified that he sexually assaulted her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in December 2005 when she interviewed him for a story. Stoynoff broke down as she told the jury that Trump allegedly offered to give her a personal tour of the mansion while his wife, Melania Trump, changed clothes for a photo shoot, and then lunged at her once they were alone.
Read More: Trump Jury Hears of Alleged Mar-a-Lago Assault on Reporter
Trump says Leeds’s and Stoynoff’s accounts, like Carroll’s, are fabricated.
Leslie Lebowitz: A clinical psychologist hired by Carroll’s team as a paid expert witness, Lebowitz testified that Carroll probably experienced a flood of stress hormones that blocked her from calling out for help or remembering every detail of how she got away. She testified that Carroll “sleeps with a loaded gun” as a result of the alleged attack and hasn’t been able to form romantic relationships since.
Read More: Trump Jury Hears Expert Explain Why Carroll Reacted as She Did
During cross-examination, Trump’s lawyer got Lebowitz to agree that her expert report assumed Carroll was telling the truth and that she didn’t take clinical steps to determine whether she was lying.
Cheryl Beall: A Bergdorf Goodman manager in the spring of 1996, Beall corroborated Carroll’s testimony that the store was open on Thursday evenings until 9 p.m. She told the jurors that while dressing rooms were typically locked, salespeople often propped the doors open. Trump’s lawyer had argued that was incredible.
Although he chose not to testify live, Trump did sit for a sworn deposition in October that was shown to the jury at the trial. In it, he called Carroll a liar and accused her lawyer of being a political operative. He reasserted that Carroll wasn’t his “type,” added that the attorney wasn’t either, and said the lawsuit was a “hoax.” The former president testified that Carroll had publicly said she thought rape was “sexy,” taking out of context a remark she made on CNN about entertainment culture.
The case is Carroll v. Trump, 22-cv-10016, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Read More
- Trump Accuser Carroll Testifies George Conway Prompted Suing
- Trump Accuser Gives Jury Graphic Testimony of Rape He Denies
(Updates with closing argument by Trump’s lawyer and rebuttal by Carroll’s in second and third sections and with Bergdorf witness Beall at bottom.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.