Trump found liable for sexual battery, defamation

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Video and a transcript of former President Donald Trump’s deposition in the defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll were released in court records Friday.

The deposition, taken in October at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, was made public a day after Carroll’s lawyers rested their case at the trial for the suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Trump’s lawyers presented no witnesses of their own.

In the deposition, Trump says “that over the last million years ... unfortunately or fortunately,” people who are considered “stars” could grab women sexually without their consent.

Trump told Carroll’s lawyer that he considered himself to be a star.

Portions of the transcript have previously been released in separate court filings, and jurors on Thursday were shown portions of a video of the deposition.

In one such section, Trump, who has repeatedly said that Carroll was “not my type,” mistook her for his former wife Marla Maples in a photo from the 1980s showing him, Carroll, her then-husband, and Trump’s then-wife Ivana Trump together.

“That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife,” Trump said before his lawyer Alina Habba stepped in during the deposition to tell him, “No, that’s Carroll,” Habba said.

Trump then said the photo was “very blurry.”

Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, denies raping Carroll.

“It didn’t take place,” he said during the deposition.

“She is a sick person, in my opinion. Really sick. There is something wrong with her,” Trump said.

The deposition released Friday includes Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan asking Trump about comments he made on the “Access Hollywood” tape, when a hot mic caught him boasting to that show’s host in 2005 about groping and kissing women without their permission.

“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait,” Trump had said on that tape. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” he said, including “grab ’em by the p----.”

In his deposition, Trump called those comments “locker room talk,” the same term he used to dismiss them when the tape became public shortly before the 2016 presidential election, which he won.

But Trump also told Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, that, “Well, historically, that’s true with stars.”

Kaplan then said, “True with stars that they can grab women?”

Trump replied, “Well, that’s what — if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.”

Kaplan then said: “And you consider yourself to be a star?”

Trump answered, “I think you can say that, yeah.”

Attorneys for writer E. Jean Carroll chided Donald Trump for failing to testify in his own defense, as closing arguments concluded Monday in Carroll's defamation and battery case against the former president.

There wasn't even a 'He said,'" Carroll's attorney, Michael Ferrara, told the jury in his closing rebuttal. Carroll "showed up," said Ferrara, while Trump was "nowhere to be found."

Closing statements began with Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan telling jury members that Carroll was "was exactly" Trump's type and that he sexually assaulted Carroll the very way he described treating women on the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape.

Kaplan once again played for the jury the excerpt of Trump's October 2022 deposition in which he momentarily mistakes Carroll for his second wife.

"What did Mr. Trump do after I showed him that photograph?" Kaplan told the jury. "He looked at it for a moment and then, completely unprompted by me, he said, 'It's Marla.' She was exactly his type!"

Kaplan asserted that Trump only corrected himself when his own lawyer jumped in after realizing how potentially damaging the statement was.

"He said the photo was blurry. But that's the photo, ladies and gentleman," Kaplan said, putting the 1980s-era photograph of Carroll, her then-husband John Johnson, Trump, and his then-wife Ivana Trump on the screen in the courtroom. "The truth is that E. Jean Carroll, a former cheerleader and Ms. Indiana, was exactly Donald Trump's type."

Kaplan juxtaposed Trump's mistaken identification with his remarks on the "Access Hollywood" tape, on which he is heard saying about women that "I just start kissing them ... I don't even wait" and that when you're a star you can "grab them by the p----."

What is Donald Trump doing here?" Kaplan said. "He's telling you in his own words how he treats women. It's his modus operandi."

The attorney also repeated what Trump said during his deposition about how stars get away with the conduct. "Well that's what, if you look over the last million years, I guess that's been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately," Trump is heard saying.

Fortunately or unfortunately?" Kaplan told the jury. "Who would say fortunately to describe the act of sexual assault? I know who. He thinks stars like him can get away with it. He thinks he can get away with it here."

Kaplan implored the jury that "you must hold him to account for what he's done."

Trump defense attorney Joe Tacopina, in his closing argument, told jury members that "what E. Jean Carroll has done here is an affront to justice."

He denied that Trump battered or defamed Carroll, saying, "All Donald Trump said was, 'I didn't do it.'"

"Donald Trump doesn't have a story to tell here other than to say it's a lie," Tacopina told the jury.

"If something is completely made up, the only way to defend yourself is by challenging the people who made it up and the story itself," Tacopina said, describing the challenge Trump faces in court. "He lashes out, rightly or wrongly. It doesn't make up for the lack of proof in Ms. Carroll's unbelievable story."

The defense attorney seized on the fact that Carroll has not been able to recall the date of the alleged rape. Noting that Carroll's attorney had reminded jury members that Trump declined to testify in his own defense, Tacopina asked jury members, "What could I have asked him? Where were you on some unknown date 27 or 28 years ago?"

"And why is there no date to an event as significant as this in someone's life?" the attorney said. "It's not a coincidence. With no date, no month, no year, you can't present an alibi."

Calling Carroll's claim "an unbelievable work of fiction," Tacopina said that if the alleged attacker was anyone but Donald Trump, "we're not here. Not on this story."

"What they want is for you to hate him enough to ignore the facts," the attorney said.

"There is no objective evidence to corroborate her claim, including a police report," Tacopina told the jury. "She never went to the police, because it didn't happen."

"E Jean Carroll's story is not worthy of your belief," said Tacopina, who referred jurors to a 2021 text message written by former television newswoman Carol Martin, who Carroll said she told about the alleged rape the day after Trump allegedly attacked her.

"It's too hyperbolic," Martin, who testified for Carroll, wrote to a friend in the Nov. 30, 2021, message regarding Carroll's case. "Too much celebratory stuff over something that hasn't really happened."

She's asking you to condemn another citizen of rape, the worst thing you can do, and she's asking you to do it on evidence that couldn't stand up in any credible, objective fact assessment, that would never make it through a police investigation," Tacopina told the jury.

The defense is relying on cross-examination of the plaintiff's 11 witnesses, including Carroll herself, who Tacopina asked repeatedly why she did not scream during the alleged rape.

Kaplan reminded the jury of the psychologist who testified that "screaming is one of the least likely things that actually occurs" in those situations.

Kaplan also said that some of Carroll's other behaviors that the defense questioned were consistent with someone who experienced trauma, including keeping the dress she wore the evening of the alleged assault, continuing to shop at Bergdorf Goodman, and watching Trump on "The Apprentice." Not doing those things, Kaplan said, would have forced Carroll to acknowledge how deeply the alleged rape affected her.

"Are they required to live a life of total suffering in order to seek justice in the court?" Kaplan asked regarding victims of assault. "Of course not."

Kaplan asked the jury for no specific damage award, saying the case was not about money but about restoring Carroll's name.

What is the price for decades of living alone without companionship? No one to cook dinner with, no one to walk your dog with, no one to watch TV with?" Kaplan said. "I'm not going to put a number on that."

She did, however, implore the jury to hold Trump accountable.

"In this country, even the most powerful person can be held accountable in court. No one, not ever a former president, is above the law," Kaplan said. "Your job is to uphold that core principle."

Before dismissing the jury for the day, the judge in the case told them he would deliver jury instructions on Tuesday morning, followed by the start of deliberations. The nine-member jury of six men and three women will weigh Carroll's defamation and battery claims, and decide potential monetary damages.

A federal judge on Tuesday gave jurors their final instructions before they were set to begin deliberating at the civil trial where former President Donald Trump is accused of raping and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll.

Judge Lewis Kaplan also gave the jury the verdict form it will use during the deliberations in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. If jurors determine that Carroll proved either of her claims, they will decide whether to award her monetary damages.

A jury has found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in the E. Jean Carroll case.

The jury awarded Carroll a total of $5 million in the lawsuit. Jury members found that Trump did not rape Carroll but sexually abused her, and awarded damages of $2 million in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages for battery.

The jury awarded $1 million in damages, $1.7 million for reputation repair, and $280,000 in punitive damages, for defamation.

The jury reached its verdict after just under three hours of deliberations.

Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by about two dozen women, and has denied all such claims. Carroll's battery allegation was the first to make it before a jury.

Dirty Donny is going down.

. . . I'm very happy with the outcome and very proud of Carroll for her strength.

I think it's sad that people get more money than that for burning themselves with McDonald's coffee, but I'm very happy with the outcome and very proud of Carroll for her strength.