NEW YORK (AP) — Questioned for a lawsuit, former President Donald Trump angrily hurled insults and threatened to sue the columnist who accused him of raping her in a division retailer within the Nineteen Nineties, in response to excerpts of his videotaped testimony unsealed by a court docket on Friday.
Parts of his 5 1/2-hour October deposition in a lawsuit filed by columnist E. Jean Carroll had been launched publicly after a federal choose rejected his attorneys’ request that it remained sealed.
“She mentioned that I did one thing to her that by no means came about. There was no something. I do know nothing about this nut job,” he mentioned, in response to the transcript.
The excerpts reveal a contentious battle between Trump and Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, who questioned him as Trump known as the previous longtime Elle journal columnist the perpetrator of “a whole rip-off” through which she described the rape as she “was selling a extremely crummy ebook.”
“I’ll sue her after that is over, and that’s the factor I actually stay up for doing. And I’ll sue you too,” he instructed Kaplan.
The discharge of excerpts from the deposition got here the identical day as Choose Lewis A. Kaplan, unrelated to the lawyer, additionally refused a request by Trump’s attorneys to toss out two lawsuits by Carroll alleging defamation and rape. An April trial is deliberate.
Trump has repeatedly mentioned the encounter with Carroll within the mid-Nineteen Nineties at an upscale Manhattan division retailer by no means occurred.
In his testimony, Trump repeatedly attacked Carroll’s depiction of him as a rapist.
Trump mentioned he knew it wasn’t “politically appropriate” to say “she’s not my kind” when he responded to claims shortly after Carroll’s 2019 ebook was revealed. The author alleged she was attacked by Trump in a dressing room after that they had an opportunity assembly within the retailer and he or she agreed to assist him select lingerie for a good friend.
“However I’ll say it anyway,” he mentioned. “She’s accusing me of rape, a girl that I do not know who she is. It got here out of the blue. She’s accusing me of raping her, the worst factor you are able to do, the worst cost.”
Talking to her legal professional, he added: “And you realize it’s not true too. You’re a political operative additionally. You’re a shame. However she’s accusing me and so are you of rape, and it by no means came about.”
At one level within the deposition, Trump known as Carroll “sick, mentally sick.” He mischaracterized an interview Carroll had given on CNN, falsely claiming she had talked about having fun with being sexually assaulted. “She truly indicated that she cherished it. Okay? She cherished it till industrial break,” Trump mentioned. “Actually, I believe she mentioned it was horny, didn’t she? She mentioned it was very horny to be raped. Didn’t she say that?”
Kaplan, Carroll’s legal professional, then tried to elicit from Trump that he raped her shopper.
“So, sir, I simply need to affirm: It’s your testimony that E. Jean Carroll mentioned that she cherished being sexually assaulted by you?”
Trump answered: “Nicely, based mostly on her interview with Anderson Cooper, I consider that’s what came about. And we will outline that. … I believe she mentioned that rape was horny – which it’s not, by the way in which.”
What Carroll has mentioned in her writing, and within the interview with Cooper, is that she doesn’t like to make use of the phrase rape as a result of another individuals “suppose rape is horny.” She mentioned she most well-liked the time period “struggle.”
At one other level within the deposition, Kaplan requested Trump if he had ever touched a girl on her breast or buttocks or another sexual half with out her consent.
“Nicely, I’ll inform you no, however you will have some individuals like your shopper that lie,” he responded.
Late Friday, Trump legal professional Alina Habba issued a press release, saying: “Whereas it was solely pointless for the unsealing of a transcript each events beforehand agreed would stay confidential, our shopper has nothing to cover and appears ahead to resolving this meritless case.”
Roberta Kaplan declined to touch upon the discharge of the deposition excerpts.
Kaplan, the Manhattan choose, earlier Friday upheld the lawsuits alleging rape and defamation and searching for unspecified damages by Carroll, saying they might proceed to trial as a result of Trump’s challenges had been with out advantage.
“The truth that Mr. Trump denies Ms. Carroll’s allegations doesn’t enter into the evaluation at this stage of the case,” the jurist wrote. “What, if something, truly occurred should await additional proceedings if the grievance withstands the current movement.”
Habba mentioned in a press release: “Whereas we’re disillusioned with the Court docket’s determination, we intend to right away attraction the order and proceed to advocate for our shopper’s constitutionally protected rights.”
In his ruling, the choose mentioned the Grownup Survivor’s Act was much like the Youngster Victims Act, one other New York state regulation that briefly allowed victims of sexual assaults once they had been youngsters to sue their abusers years later.
Carroll initially sued Trump for defamation after he mocked her claims he sexually assaulted her. Carroll sued Trump with the rape declare in November, when the Grownup Survivor’s Act took impact.