MSNBC Legal Experts Lose It Over Trump Deposition Answer On Grabbing Women ‘By The P*ssy’: ‘What Part of That is Fortunate??’
Two MSNBC legal experts were gobsmacked that Donald Trump used the word “fortunately” in his deposition testimony about grabbing women.
“I mean, it happens quickly, but realize he has just said ‘fortunately’ when asked about the ability to grab women. He has said ‘fortunately or unfortunately.’ What part of that is fortunate?” said senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett.
“I don’t see how you explain that away, and if he had been on the stand, he would’ve had an opportunity try to rehabilitate himself. If he’d been on the stand, his attorneys would have had an opportunity to confront that,” Jarrett continued. “There would have been, you know, a process there for it.”
“Instead, the jury has just watched that with no defense case at all,” she continued. “Now, they’ll have closing arguments, they will be able to try to clean this up in some way. But that is a striking moment for the jury to have watched with no defense.”
Trump’s taped deposition in the E. Jean Carroll civil rape and defamation case was released on Friday. In it, Trump had an exchange with attorney Roberta Kaplan about the Access Hollywood tape that came out one month before the 2016 presidential election.
KAPLAN: In this video, ‘I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss, I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the p*ssy, you can do anything.’ That’s what you said, correct?
TRUMP: Well, historically that’s true with stars.
KAPLAN: It’s true of stars that they can grab them by the p*ssy?
TRUMP: Well, If you look at the last million years, that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.
KAPLAN: You consider yourself to be a star?
TRUMP: I think you can say that, yeah.
Legal analyst Danny Cevallos was incredulous.
“There were celebrities, there were stars a million years ago? I mean, everything Laura pointed out, ‘fortunately or unfortunately’ — by the way, this is why I video tape every deposition of a defendant. You don’t have to, but you never know what you’re going to get,” Cevallos said.
“Because if you just read this transcript, it may have one effect. But if you see him responding the way he does in real time — and, by the way, as far as I know for the first time, doubling down on what he said in the Access Hollywood tape, whereas before he called it ‘locker room talk,'” he said. “He apparently believes every word that he said many years ago that were caught on tape.”
Cevallos felt the moment was critical in the case, saying “This, I think, is very troubling to see this on video, it’s gotta be terrific for the plaintiff.”
Trump has indicated that he might yet show up to testify in the trial but Cevallos is doubtful. “I’ll double down on that: there’s no way he’s coming. He’s only trolling us, I’m not going to get fooled by this again,” the CNN analyst said. “He’s not showing up, I’m still confident he’s not.”
Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.
