Former President Donald Trump will not be presenting a defense case in his civil trial on allegations he raped writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s. Trump initially had an expert witness lined up to try to rebut Carroll's claims in the case, but that witness is now unable to testify due to "health issues." Trump has denied Carroll's accusations that he raped her at a Manhattan department store and called her claims a "hoax" and a "con job." The jury will still hear from Trump, and Carroll is expected to rest her case Thursday.
Joe Tacopina, lawyer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, announced that they would not offer witnesses at his civil trial for defamation against E. Jean Carroll. While the one expert witness planned was unable to testify because of health problems, other forms of evidence are presented instead.
Trump has been absent from court proceedings since the beginning of last week but had made appearances elsewhere; for instance, breaking ground on a new golf course project in Scotland this Monday.
In light of these developments, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan informed jurors on Wednesday that they could anticipate starting deliberations early next week after hearing more witnesses from both sides and closing arguments.
Carroll alleges defamatory statements were made by the former president regarding her sexual assault claim against him dating back approximately two decades ago when she accused him of raping her inside Bergdorf Goodman department store during an impromptu meeting between them there.
During Wednesday’s proceedings focused primarily around testimony provided by an expert assessing Ms. Carroll’s trauma caused by this alleged incident – results which suggested significant damage incurred as consequence thereof – tensions rose markedly within courtroom confines throughout cross-examination process conducted under watchful eye presiding judge who ultimately had cause multiple times over sustained objections raised against line questioning pursued legal representative opposing party defendant named herein: namely Mr Chad Seigel acting counsel aforementioned ex-commander-in-chief United States America himself personally implicated within matter presently before bench consideration adjudication thereof based upon claims sexual battery defamation leveled against him by plaintiff