2023-05-06 00:29:00
The video with the statement of the former president Donald Trump under oath, under the trial for rape and defamation initiated by the ex-journalist E. Jean Carroll, was released this Friday.
The former president’s statement, who did not appear at the trial, was presented this week to the jury, which will have to decide whether or not to believe Carroll.
In the video, Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, questions Trump about comments he made on the “Access Hollywood” recording, released before the 2016 election, in which the Republican magnate claimed that celebrities They are licensed to sexually assault women.
The 76-year-old former president replies that they are “historically” true. “During the last million years.”
“I guess it’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately,” Trump told the attorney.
“And do you consider yourself a star?” asks the lawyer.
“I think you can say, yes,” Trump replies.
Kaplan shows a photo of Trump in which he appears with Carroll and their respective partners, and mistakes her for his ex-wife Marla Maples.
In the statement, Trump reiterated that he doesn’t know Carroll and repeats comments he’s made earlier that he’s “not my type.”
“It’s the most ridiculous and disgusting story. Everything is a lie,” he says.
Carroll accused Trump in court last year of raping her in a department store in the mid-1990s. She also accused him of defamation.
Trump has always denied the allegations and is not being criminally prosecuted for them.
Carroll seeks unspecified compensation for psychological trauma and other damages, and asks that Trump retract his comments.
Lawyers for both sides are scheduled to present closing arguments on Monday and the nine-person jury is expected to deliver its verdict later in the week.
The case is one of the legal challenges facing Trump, amid his aspirations to return to the White House in next year’s elections.
Last month, he pleaded not guilty in a criminal case related to a payment of black money to buy the silence of a porn star just before the 2016 election.
Trump is also under investigation for his efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 elections in the southern state of Georgia, his alleged mishandling of classified documents removed from the White House and their involvement in the assault on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
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