Excerpts released in Carroll lawsuit
Trump suggested writer said rape was ‘sexy’
Former President Donald Trump falsely suggested E. Jean Carroll, who is suing him for sexual assault and defamation, said in a TV interview that she found rape “sexy.”
He made the statement in excerpts of a deposition that a federal judge in New York City ordered made public last week.
Trump also repeated past statements in which he denied assaulting or even knowing Carroll, called her a liar and added she was not his type, the excerpts show.
What did Trump say about Carroll’s allegations?
● Trump provided the sworn testimony in a deposition Oct. 19 at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for one of the civil lawsuits filed against him by Carroll.
● Citing a 2019 interview of Carroll by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Trump said he believed his accuser said “rape is sexy or something to that effect.” Asked specifically whether she said she “loved being sexually assaulted by you,” Trump replied, “She said something to that effect.”
● A transcript of the interview shows Carroll said: “I think most people think of rape as being sexy. They think of the fantasies.” Referring to the alleged assault, she said: “It was against my will. And it hurt. And it was a fight.”
● Trump also answered questions about a Truth Social post Oct. 12 in which he called Carroll’s allegations “a complete con job.” He said he criticized her in the post “because I was offended that she could just make up a story out of cold air.”
He said he criticized her in the post “because I was offended that she could just make up a story out of cold air.”
Donald Trump in deposition excerpts
What does Carroll accuse Trump of doing?
Carroll is a New York-based former magazine advice columnist and beauty queen. She is one of roughly 17 women who have claimed that Trump touched them inappropriately. He has denied the allegations and said in theOct. 19 deposition that he never touched a woman sexually without consent.
Both lawsuits filed by Carroll focus on what she says was a chance meeting and playful banter in the Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store roughly 27 years ago that suddenly “took a dark turn.”
Trump, whom she said asked her to help him pick out a gift for a woman, went with her to the lingerie department and “forced her up against a dressing room wall, pinned her in place with his shoulder, and raped her,” the newest lawsuit says.
Carroll filed a defamation case against Trump in 2019, accusing him of pursuing a public campaign to discredit her by claiming she had concocted the assault to help sell a book.
In November, she filed a second complaint, this time for sexual assault. Ordinarily, such a lawsuit would be blocked by the statute of limitations, which bars certain types of cases after specified periods of time. But a 2022 New York law gave adult victims of sexual assault who had not come forward a one-year window to file civil lawsuits against the people they said attacked them.
What’s the status of Carroll’s cases against Trump?
Manhattan U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected Trump’s effort to dismiss the defamation case and scheduled a trial date April 10. The future of that lawsuit, however, could be affected by an expected federal appeals court ruling on whether Trump’s statements about Carroll were made as part of his official duties while president. If the appeals court rules in Trump’s favor, the defamation case could be dismissed.
On Friday, Kaplan rejected Trump’s effort to dismiss the sexual assault case. He also rejected the former president’s request to keep the deposition excerpts sealed. Kaplan’s ruling authorized public access to excerpts of the depositions of both Trump and Carroll in the defamation case.
The judge has not yet ruled on whether the cases should be consolidated or go to trial together. The two cases are part of a larger array of investigations and other legal problems hanging over Trump as he pursues another White House run in 2024.