Donald Trump and E Jean Carroll
With his rape accuser E. Jean Carroll's three-day stint on the witness stand in the rearview mirror, Donald Trump's attorney officially confirmed on Tuesday that the former president will not testify at his trial.
The revelation, officially confirmed after Day Five of the trial, comes well after the court-imposed deadline for Trump to disclose his plans to appear in court.
Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan initially gave Trump's attorney Joseph Tacopina until the end of last week to confirm whether his client would appear in court. The judge reminded Tacopina that there were potential security arrangements to consider, but the week passed without any disclosure on the public record as to Trump's intentions.
The judge pressed Tacopina on the topic at proceedings held after the jury was excused from trial on Tuesday, asking him to confirm his list of witnesses.
Tacopina mentioned only one witness: Texas-based psychiatrist Edgar P. Nace, the defense expert.
When prompted by Kaplan, Tacopina confirmed his client would not appear.
"So Mr. Trump will not be coming?" Kaplan asked.
"That's right, your honor," Tacopina replied.
In April, Kaplan ordered Trump and Carroll to disclose whether and when they planned to personally attend trial. Carroll quickly RSVD-d for every day of proceedings. Trump has been delaying disclosure ever since.
Under the rules of federal civil procedure, Trump is under no obligation to attend trial unless compelled to by Carroll's subpoena. Carroll appears content to rely on Trump's deposition, where the former president was recorded in a widely skewered mix-up.
For years, Trump insisted of Carroll: "She's not my type," but the former president mistook Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples when shown a photograph during his deposition. The photograph shows Trump, his then-wife Ivana, Carroll, and her then-husband John Johnson. Carroll testified that she believed it was taken at a "Saturday Night Live" party in the late 1980s.
This photograph of Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll at a party was embedded in her complaint.
In the spring of 1996, Carroll claims, she had been leaving a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan when Trump held up his hand and stopped her. She says that they engaged in friendly banter, and she asked him to give him advice about a gift for a woman. She says he picked up a skimpy, see-through body suit, and they argued about who would try it on.
Thinking it was a joke, Carroll says, she followed him into a dressing room. Then, she says, Trump shut the door and sexually assaulted her. Carroll delivered testimony for three days, wrapped up by the end of the day on Monday.
Carroll said that she told two of her friends: prolific author Lisa Birnbach, who testified on Tuesday, and anchorwoman Carol Martin, who is expected to testify before the anticipated closing of her case on Thursday.