Video and a transcript of former President Donald Trump’s deposition within the defamation case introduced by author E. Jean Carroll have been launched in court docket information Friday.
Carroll has accused Trump in a civil lawsuit of raping and defaming her.
The deposition, taken in October at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida, was made public a day after Carroll’s legal professionals rested their case on the trial for the go well with in U.S. District Court docket in Manhattan. Trump’s legal professionals introduced no witnesses of their very own.
Within the deposition, Trump says “that over the past million years … sadly or happily,” people who find themselves thought-about “stars” may seize girls sexually with out their consent.
Trump advised Carroll’s lawyer that he thought-about himself to be a star.
Parts of the transcript have beforehand been launched in separate court docket filings, and jurors on Thursday have been proven parts of a video of the deposition.
Watch the Trump deposition video right here.
In a single such part, Trump, who has repeatedly mentioned that Carroll was “not my kind,” mistook her for his former spouse Marla Maples in a photograph from the Eighties displaying him, Carroll, her then-husband, and Trump’s then-wife Ivana Trump collectively.
“That is Marla, yeah. That is my spouse,” Trump mentioned earlier than his lawyer Alina Habba stepped in in the course of the deposition to inform him, “No, that is Carroll,” Habba mentioned.
Trump then mentioned the picture was “very blurry.”
From L-R: former President Donald Trump, E. Jean Carroll, John Johnson and Ivana Trump at an NBC get together, late Eighties.
Supply: U.S. District Court docket in Manhattan
Carroll, 79, alleges that Trump raped her within the dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman division retailer in Manhattan within the mid-Nineties after that they had an opportunity encounter within the public space of that Manhattan retailer.
She additionally alleges in her go well with that Trump, 76, defamed her in feedback final fall accusing her of constructing up the declare.
Trump, who’s in search of the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, denies raping Carroll.
“It did not happen,” he mentioned in the course of the deposition.
“She is a sick particular person, in my view. Actually sick. There’s something improper along with her,” Trump mentioned.
Two associates of Carroll testified on the trial that she advised them Trump raped her shortly after it allegedly occurred.
And two different girls testified about separate incidents when Trump allegedly groped or kissed them in opposition to their will.
Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina advised Decide Lewis Kaplan this week that the previous president wouldn’t testify in particular person on the trial.
Kaplan gave Tacopina till late Sunday afternoon to alter his thoughts about calling Trump to the witness stand on Monday. If Trump doesn’t achieve this, closing arguments are set for Monday.
The deposition launched Friday consists of Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan asking Trump about feedback he made on the “Entry Hollywood” tape, when a scorching mic caught him boasting to that present’s host in 2005 about groping and kissing girls with out their permission.
“I am routinely interested in stunning girls — I simply begin kissing them, it is like a magnet. Simply kiss. I do not even wait,” Trump had mentioned on that tape. “And if you’re a star, they allow you to do it. You are able to do something,” he mentioned, together with “seize ’em by the p—-.”
In his deposition, Trump referred to as these feedback “locker room speak,” the identical time period he used to dismiss them when the tape turned public shortly earlier than the 2016 presidential election, which he gained.
However Trump additionally advised Kaplan, who isn’t associated to the choose, that, “Nicely, traditionally, that is true with stars.”
Kaplan then mentioned, “True with stars that they will seize girls?”
Trump replied, “Nicely, that is what — if you happen to look over the past million years, I assume that is been largely true. Not at all times, however largely true. Sadly or happily.”
Kaplan then mentioned: “And also you take into account your self to be a star?”
Trump answered, “I feel you’ll be able to say that, yeah.”
