The civil trial against Donald Trump in New York, accused of rape and defamation by a former journalist, advances this Monday towards its outcome, with the final arguments of the plaintiff and the defense lawyers of the former US president.
Source: AFP
E. Jean Carroll, 79, sued Trump last year allegingdo that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. The former Elle magazine columnist also claims that Trump defamed her after she went public with his accusation in a book in 2019.
Presenting closing arguments Monday, Carroll’s lawyer urged a jury in federal court in Manhattan to hold Trump accountable for what happened.
“No one, not even a former president, is above the law,” said Roberta Kaplan.
Kaplan reminded the jury that her client was questioned “for more than two days, and she answered every question, and in particular the “reasons she hadn’t screamed” during the alleged rape more than 25 years ago.
Trump, who has repeatedly denied the allegations, did not appear in court during the trial.
But in the excerpts from the video of the interrogation to which he was subjected last October by the prosecution lawyer, released last Friday, He said that “it is the most ridiculous and disgusting story. Everything is a lie ”, and she called Carroll “sick”.
He reiterated that he did not know his accuser despite the fact that both appear smiling, along with their respective partners, in a photo presented at the trial taken before their alleged meeting in 1996, in which the magnate mistook Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples.
In addition, he referred to Carroll as a woman who was “not (his) type.”
“The truth is that ‘Carroll’ was exactly his type,” Kaplan nevertheless said.
Trump’s lawyers are due to present their closing arguments later on Monday, before the nine jurors – six men and three women – retire to deliberate on Tuesday.
The verdict, expected this week, will determine Trump’s potential liability and, if so, the damages that Carroll is claiming.
The case is one of several legal setbacks facing the 76 year old Republican tycoonwho seeks to return to the White House in the 2024 elections.
