Donald Trump doesn't want his vulgar 'Access Hollywood' tape mentioned at his rape accuser's defamation trial

• Trump's lawyers asked to have his infamous Access Hollywood tape banned from an upcoming trial.

• Trump rape accuser E. Jean Carroll us suing Trump for defamation.

• Trump's lawyers said showing the tape to the jury would be "irrelevant and highly prejudicial."

Former President Donald Trump doesn't want a jury in the defamation trial brought by his rape accuser to hear his infamous "grab 'em by the pussy" remarks.

In court filings on Thursday, Trump's lawyers argued that the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape, in which a then-newlywed Trump boasted about groping women, shouldn't be admitted as evidence in an upcoming defamation trial brought by Elle advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.

Carroll sued Trump for defamation in 2019 after he publicly denied her claim that she was raped by him in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s.

Carroll filed a second lawsuit for claims of defamation and rape last year — both lawsuits have April trial dates and may end up being tried together. The request to exclude the "Access Hollywood" tape was made in the first, defamation-only case.

Trump's lawyers argued in court filings Thursday that the "Access Hollywood" tape "must be precluded"  from trial because it is "irrelevant and highly prejudicial."

"Defendant expects that Plaintiff will attempt to introduce this evidence to demonstrate that Defendant is 'predisposed' to committing sexual assault. However, Plaintiff's desire to introduce this evidence can serve only one purpose: to suggest to the jury that Defendant has a propensity for sexual assault and therefore the alleged incident must have in fact occurred," Trump's lawyers wrote in the filing.

In the tape, a hot mic captured Trump bragging to "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush in 2005 about groping women without their consent. "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 pussy," Trump said.

Trump's lawyers said Thursday that the contents of the tape "do not even tangentially relate" to Carroll's claim of defamation.

The lawyers also asked a judge to bar testimony from witnesses who might comment on Trump's alleged pattern of sexual assault. Specifically, they asked to block testimony from two other Trump accusers, calling their accounts "irrelevant" and "prejudicial."

Trump has denied ever sexually assaulting anyone and has dismissed his "Access Hollywood" comments as "locker-room talk."

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is presiding over both Trump/Carroll lawsuits, has yet to rule on the new filing.

An attorney for Carroll declined to comment to Insider on Friday. Trump's lawyer Alina Habba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump stood by his "Access Hollywood" comment in an October 2022 deposition, portions of which were filed to court Thursday by Carroll's lawyers.

When asked about his "grab 'em by the pussy" comments, Trump responded, "Well, historically, that's true with stars."

"True with stars that they grab women by the pussy?" asked Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's lawyer, who is not related to Judge Kaplan.

"Well, that's what — if you look over the last million years, I guess that's been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately," Trump said in the deposition.

Trump's lawyers also on Thursday asked to block testimony by author and journalist Natasha Stoynoff, who accused Trump of forcibly kissing her during a 2005 interview at Mar-a-Lago for a People magazine profile about his one-year anniversary with Melania Trump.

They also asked a judge to block testimony by Jessica Leeds, who accuses Trump of kissing and groping her as they sat side-by-side on an airplane in the late 1970s.

Carroll's lawyers have argued that other courts have allowed juries in civil sex assault trials to hear evidence of previous assault allegations.

Read the original article on Business Insider