NEW YORK – A video of sworn testimony given by former president Donald Trump in a US rape and defamation lawsuit against him was made public yesterday.
The footage, some of which was aired in court this week, shows Trump being asked about his infamous comments in the “Access Hollywood” tape leaked before the 2016 election.
Trump says during the deposition recorded in October 2022 that his comments that famous people had licence to sexually assault women was “historically” true “over the last million years”.
“I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately,” Trump says under questioning from the lawyer of his accuser E. Jean Carroll.
“And you consider yourself to be a star?” asks the attorney, Roberta Kaplan.
“I think you can say that, yeah,” Trump responds.
The video also shows Trump mistaking Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples in an old photograph.
“It’s very blurry,” Trump says, after his lawyer pointed out his mistake.
Trump reiterates his claim that he does not know who Carroll is and repeats several times that “she’s not my type”.
Members of the press petitioned the judge presiding over the civil trial for the release of the video who ruled it was up to the parties.
Carroll sued Trump last year alleging that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.
She also claims that he defamed her when he accused her of lying after she went public with the allegation in 2019.
Trump has repeatedly and strenuously denied the allegations and has not been criminally prosecuted over them.
Carroll’s suit seeks unspecified damages for psychological trauma and other harm and asks that Trump retract his comments.
Lawyers for both sides rested their case on Thursday and the nine-person jury is expected to reach a verdict next week.
The case is one of several legal challenges facing Trump, as the 76-year-old Republican seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election.
Last month, he pleaded not guilty in a criminal case related to a hush-money payment made to a porn star just before the 2016 vote.
Trump is also being investigated over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state of Georgia, his alleged mishandling of classified documents taken from the White House and his involvement in the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021. – AFP, May 6, 2023
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