Former President Donald Trump will not testify in civil trial over allegations that he raped writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s
Trump’s lawyers did not issue a submission before the 5:00 p.m. deadline Judge Lewis Kaplan set for them to notify the court if the former president wanted to testify. Closing arguments in the trial are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Monday.
Lawyers for Trump and Carroll rested their case in civil trial last week. Kaplan left open the possibility that Trump, who had said he would not appear in person, would take the witness stand in his own defense, giving him until 5 p.m. Sunday to change his mind. The trial now moves to closing arguments on Monday.
Trump’s lawyers said last week that their client will not testify and that they will not present witnesses, a position that Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, reiterated late in court Thursday as he rested. He told the judge that he had spoken with Trump on Thursday morning and that Trump had waived his right to testify.
Trump, however, told reporters at a golf course in Ireland last week that he would «go back to New York» because of the case.
Asked if he would go to the trial, he said, «I’ll probably attend,» according to one sky news video of your comments. «She’s a fake,» he said of Carroll. «She’s a disgrace.»
Carroll sued Trump for assault and defamation, alleging that he raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s and then falsely accused her of making claims that amounted to a «hoax» and «scam.» after she went public with the allegations in 2019. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations.