defamation proceedings
Is Donald Trump a rapist? Court records testimony of ex-president under oath
Unpleasant appointment for Donald Trump: In the defamation proceedings, the plaintiff carried out the questioning of the ex-president under oath
© José Luis Villegas/ / Picture Alliance
Donald Trump has a lot of legal trouble – but this case is particularly ugly: an author accuses the ex-president of rape. He calls her a liar – and is therefore sued by her. Now Trump has testified under oath in the trial.
According to consistent media reports, former US President Donald Trump testified on Wednesday in a defamation trial in connection with allegations of rape by author E. Jean Carroll. “We are pleased that we were able to take Donald Trump’s affidavit today on behalf of our client E. Jean Carroll. We are unable to make any further comments,” quoted the US broadcaster CNN as saying the spokesman for the law firm Kaplan Hecker & Fink representing Caroll. Details of the content and scope of the statement were not disclosed; Trump’s lawyers initially did not comment.
Donald Trump says he never met E. Jean Carroll
Among other things, Carroll wrote in a book excerpt published in the summer of 2019 that Trump raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. The Republican had already rejected the allegations in 2019 – among other things with the words: “She’s not my type”. He said, while still President, that he had never met Carroll. She’s just trying to sell a new book and has accused other men of similar things. Carroll then sued Trump for portraying her as a liar and thus defaming her.
A judge in New York last week rejected Trump’s attempt to postpone his testimony in the libel trial. Trump then repeated in a post on the social network Truth Social, which he co-founded, that Caroll had invented the whole thing. “I don’t know this woman, I have no idea who she is.” He complained that he had to put up with years of “legal nonsense” once more.
The Republican has been repeatedly accused of assaulting women. So far, none of these allegations have had any legal consequences for him. The ex-president is also involved in legal disputes on various other fronts.