By Jack Queen
(Reuters) – Here are six notable moments from Donald Trump’s civil rape trial which entered a final phase on Tuesday with jurors in Manhattan federal court deliberating over whether the former U.S. president raped and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll.
– U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan took the unusual step of keeping jurors anonymous from both the public and lawyers to shield them from potential harassment by Trump supporters.
“If you’re normally a Bill and you’re selected for the jury or even before, you can be John for a couple of days,” Kaplan told prospective jurors.
-On the second day of trial, Kaplan warned Trump’s legal team that his posts about the case on his Truth Social platform the day before could open him to a “a new source of potential liability.”
Carroll’s lawyers had flagged two posts where Trump called the case a “made up SCAM” “financed by a big political donor.”
-Facing repeated questioning from Trump’s attorney about why she did not scream during the alleged assault, Carroll lost patience and raised her voice.
“I’m telling you: he raped me whether I screamed or not,” she said.
-Trump waived his right to testify but jurors saw footage of his October 2022 video deposition, where he defended vulgar comments he made in a 2005 video.
Trump was asked about the 2005 “Access Hollywood” video, where he said on a hot microphone that “when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab ’em by the pussy.”
“Historically, that’s true, with stars… if you look over the last million years,” Trump, hunched over a conference table, said in the deposition played at trial.
-During closing arguments, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan – who is not related to Judge Kaplan – said testimony by two other women who allege Trump sexually assaulted them established a pattern of misconduct. Trump has denied those allegations also.
“Three different women, decades apart, but one single pattern of behavior,” Kaplan said, arguing that Trump’s defense was asking jurors to believe the “ridiculous” claim that the other witnesses conspired to lie.
-Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina claimed during his closing argument that Carroll’s lawsuit was a cash grab, publicity stunt and political mission rolled into one.
“What E. Jean Carroll has done here is an affront to justice. She has abused this system by bringing a false claim for amongst other things money, status, political reasons,” Tacopina said.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Additional reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller)
