E. Jean Carroll rests her rape case against Donald Trump; he denounces defamation trial as bogus
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Attorneys for E. Jean Carroll rested their rape and defamation case against Donald Trump on Thursday, while Trump denounced the lawsuit as bogus and claimed he would attend the proceedings - though his lawyers announced just hours later that they would also rest their case without calling any witnesses.
U.S District Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would give Trump until 5 p.m. on Sunday to a request a re-opening of the case for the purpose of testifying; Kaplan didn't say whether he would grant such a request.
Otherwise, final arguments in the case are scheduled for Monday.
Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters in Ireland in the morning that he planned to go to New York to "confront" his accuser, although his attorneys again said they did not plan to call him as a witness.
"I'm going back to New York," the former president said. "I was falsely accused by this woman, I have no idea who she is. It's ridiculous."
Carroll's witnesses
The plaintiff's last witnesses included experts in legal damages and a friend who said Carroll told her about Trump's sexual assault shortly after the alleged incident in 1996.
Carol Martin, a former television news anchor and a long-time friend of Carroll, testified that she spoke about the attack by Trump with her shortly after it happened.
“I believed it then, and I believe it today,” Martin said
Martin said she told Carroll not to go public at the time because Trump and his attorneys would "bury" her.
Damages
In testimony last week, Carroll testified that Trump raped her after a chance meeting at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1996. She is suing Trump for defamation, saying he lied about the attack and smeared her name in the process.
The jury on Thursday also heard from Ashlee Humphreys, a Northwestern University sociologist who estimated that Trump's social media and verbal attacks on Carroll caused between $368,000 and $2.76 million in damages to Carroll’s reputation.
Trump denies
Trump, who has been on a trip to Scotland and Ireland to inspect golf properties, told reporters he would cut short his trip to Ireland to "confront" Carroll.
Trump's attorneys, who have said all week they did not plan to call their client to stand, later rested their case without calling any witnesses at all.
Trump told reporters in Ireland that "I will probably attend (the trial)" and added: "I have to go back for a woman that made a false accusation about me, and I have a judge who is extremely hostile."
Jurors did see Trump deny the allegations in a video deposition in which he said that Carroll made up the incident. Had it happened, he said during the deposition take in October, shoppers and employees at the store would have heard the commotion and alerted security.
“It’s the most ridiculous, disgusting story," Trump said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: E. Jean Carroll rests rape and defamation case against Donald Trump
