‘Trump is a Witness Against Himself’ Argues Lawyer in Closing Argument Of Rape Trial, Citing Defense of ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape
Closing arguments in former President Donald Trump’s rape and defamation trial took place in New York City on Monday with Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer for E. Jean Carroll, going first. Carroll, a former well-known advice columnist, accused Trump in 2019 of raping her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman’s in New York City in the 1990s.
Trump quickly denied the allegations at the time and launched brutal attacks on Carroll, over which she sued him for defamation. Carroll also filed a civil suit against the former president accusing him of rape.
Kaplan defended her client’s testimony as “credible,” “consistent,” and “powerful” during her closing, while playing tape from Trump’s October deposition in which he defended his remarks that he, as a star, can “grab women by the p*ssy.”
“He grabbed her, using his words, ‘by the p*ssy,'” Kaplan said after showing Trump’s answer defending his infamous comments on the “Access Hollywood” tape, which went public before the 2016 election.
In Trump’s deposition, he was asked, “You can do anything. Grab them by the p*ssy. You could do anything. That’s what you said.”
“Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” replied Trump.
“It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the pussy?” Kaplan pressed in the deposition.
“Well, that’s what if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true, unfortunately, or fortunately,” Trump replied.
Kaplan reacted to the tape and continued in her closing argument, “Who would say ‘fortunately’ to describe” an act of “sexual assault?”
“He thinks stars like him can get away with sexually assaulting women,” Kaplan continued, as reported by Law & Crime’s Adam Klasfeld.
“That’s who Donald Trump is. That is how he thinks. And that’s what he does,” Kaplan added. “He thinks he can get away with it here.”
Kaplan insisted that the case before the jury was not a “he said, she said” accusation, but rather the word of 11 witnesses – Carroll included – versus Trump’s own words in his deposition.
“He didn’t even bother to show up here in person,” Kaplan argued, according to the Associated Press, adding that Trump’s own statements also “actually support our side of the case.”
“In a very real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself. He knows what he did. He knows that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll,” Kaplan argued.
Courthouse News’s Nina Pullano reported Kaplan’s final words before wrapping the case:
Kaplan concludes by explaining the burden of proof for the battery & defamation counts, and tells jurors the evidence proves both, “but I think you already know that.”
