Donald Trump and E Jean Carroll
Former President Donald Trump's posts on Truth Social swiping at E. Jean Carroll in the middle of his civil rape trial could cause him "potential liability," a federal judge warned on Wednesday.
The two missives, calling Carroll's case a "made up SCAM," brought up two topics that Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan barred from the trial: DNA evidence and the political connections of Carroll's attorneys.
"She said there was a dress, using the ol' Monica Lewinsky 'stuff', then she didn't want to produce it," Trump said. "The dress should be allowed to be part of the case. This is a fraudulent & false story–Witch Hunt!"
Judge Kaplan noted that Trump long refused to give Carroll a DNA sample — until he changed his mind, with conditions.
"He, for three years, refused to give a DNA sample, and now he wants it in the case?" Kaplan asked, pointedly.
Trump's legal position changed dramatically after he retained attorney Joseph Tacopina, who also represents Trump in his criminal case. Months before the scheduled start of the trial, Tacopina offered Carroll a proposition — that Trump would provide a DNA sample if Carroll's legal team turned over some missing pages from her genetic report.
Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan, who isn't related to the judge, slammed that offer as a delay tactic.
In February, Judge Kaplan rejected Tacopina's motion as a proposed "quid pro quo," which fell too late to be considered and had dubious relevance.
"Indeed, as is discussed in greater detail below, further proceedings with respect to the DNA on the dress cannot prove or disprove Ms. Carroll's claim that Mr. Trump raped her and could well prove entirely inconclusive in all respects," his ruling said.
Trump's legal team also has tried to drag in Carroll's political ties before the jury, including financing by LinkedIn billionaire Reid Hoffman. Though the judge did not let in that information, the former president brought the issue up in his Truth Social post.
"The Miss Bergdorf Goodman case is financed by a big political donor that they tried to hide," Trump wrote.
Judge Kaplan said that it appeared that Trump may have been trying to get issues barred from court before the jury, calling the comments "entirely inappropriate."
Tacopina indicated that he would ask Trump to "refrain from any further posts regarding this case."
"Well, I hope you're more successful," Kaplan said, adding that Trump "may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability."
"And I think you know what I mean," the judge added.
After that remark, witness testimony began with Cheryl Beall, the former manager of Bergdorf Goodman's women's store. Carroll claims that Trump raped her in the dressing room of that store in the mid-1990s, and a focal point of the former president's defense argues that somebody would have noticed an alleged sexual assault.
Beall testified that the store had a "residential" atmosphere that valued the customer's privacy — and staff exercised particular discretion regarding famous customers.