Trump may soon have to answer rape allegations under oath

[webfact]

Trump may soon have to answer rape allegations under oath

By Linda So

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump rape accuser E. Jean Carroll departs from her hearing at federal court during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., October 21, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

 

(Reuters) - During a December visit to New York City, writer E. Jean Carroll says she went shopping with a fashion consultant to find the “best outfit” for one of the most important days of her life - when she’ll sit face-to-face with the man she accuses of raping her decades ago, former President Donald Trump.

 

The author and journalist hopes that day will come this year. Her lawyers are seeking to depose Trump in a defamation lawsuit that Carroll filed against the former president in November 2019 after he denied her accusation that he raped her at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump said he never knew Carroll and accused her of lying to sell her new book, adding: “She’s not my type.”

 

She plans to be there if Trump is deposed.

 

“I am living for the moment to walk into that room to sit across the table from him,” Carroll told Reuters in an interview. “I think of it everyday.”

 

Carroll, 77, a former Elle magazine columnist, seeks unspecified damages in her lawsuit and a retraction of Trump’s statements. It is one of two defamation cases involving sexual misconduct allegations against Trump that could move forward faster now that he has left the presidency. While in office, Trump’s lawyers delayed the case in part by arguing that the pressing duties of his office made responding to civil lawsuits impossible.

 

“The only barrier to proceeding with the civil suits was that he’s the president,” said Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor and now an adjunct professor of clinical law at the New York University School of Law.

 

“I think there will be a sense among the judges that it’s time to get a move on in these cases,” said Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney.

 

An attorney for Trump and another representative of the former president did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Trump faces a similar defamation lawsuit from Summer Zervos, a former contestant on his reality television show “The Apprentice.” In 2016, Zervos accused Trump of sexual misconduct, saying that he kissed her against her will at a 2007 meeting in New York and later groped her at a California hotel as the two met to discuss job opportunities.

 

Trump denied the allegations and called Zervos a liar, prompting her to sue him for defamation in 2017, seeking damages and a retraction. Trump tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed, arguing that, as president, he was immune from suits filed in state courts. His lawyers appealed to the New York Court of Appeals, which is still considering the case.

 

Zervos filed a motion in early February asking the court to resume the case now that Trump’s no longer president.

 

Zervos and Carroll are among more than two dozen women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct that they say occurred in the years before he became president.

 

Other accusers include a former model who claims Trump sexually assaulted her at the 1997 U.S. Open tennis tournament; a former Miss Universe pageant contestant who said Trump groped her in 2006; and a reporter who alleges Trump forcibly kissed her without her consent in 2005 at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

 

Trump has denied the allegations and called them politically motivated.

 

In September, after several unsuccessful attempts by Trump’s lawyers to get Carroll’s case dismissed or delayed, U.S. Justice Department officials under his administration took the unusual step of asking that the government be substituted for Trump as the defendant in the case.

 

Justice Department lawyers argued that Trump, like any typical government employee, is entitled under federal law to immunity from civil lawsuits when performing his job. They argued that he was acting in his capacity as president when he said Carroll was lying.

 

Legal experts said it was unprecedented for the Justice Department to defend a president for conduct before he took office. When Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan rejected that argument, the Justice Department appealed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has yet to rule on it.

 

It’s yet to be seen whether Justice Department officials under President Joe Biden, who took office last month, will continue to defend the case on Trump’s behalf. The White House and the Justice Department declined to comment.

 

If the appeals court upholds Judge Kaplan’s decision, it would likely clear the way for Trump to be deposed by Carroll’s lawyers.

 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE DNA

Carroll’s lawyers are also seeking a DNA sample from Trump. Carroll says she still has the dress she was wearing when Trump allegedly attacked her.

 

“I hung it in my closet,” she said.

 

Carroll said she randomly crossed paths with Trump in the Bergdorf Goodman’s store in the mid-1990s. Carroll, who hosted a TV talk show at the time, said Trump recognized her.

 

The two chatted, she said. Trump asked her to pick out a gift for an unidentified woman, and they eventually ended up in the lingerie department. After asking her to try on a body suit, Trump closed the door in a dressing room, pinned her against a wall, unzipped his pants and sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint.

 

Carroll said she told two friends about the alleged attack shortly after it happened, but did not report Trump to police, fearing retribution from the wealthy and well-connected businessman. Decades later, Carroll went public with her story in a June 2019 New York magazine article, adapted from a new book, “What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.”

 

She said she was inspired to recount the incident by the #MeToo movement, which emboldened women to share their experiences of sexual assault and harassment. In photos shot for that story, Kaplan, at the request of the magazine’s photography director, wore the same black Donna Karan dress that she said she had worn on the day that Trump allegedly assaulted her.

 

When Carroll filed her lawsuit later in 2019, her lawyer, Kaplan, had a guard escort her to retrieve the dress from her closet for forensic testing. An analysis concluded no semen was found on the dress, but the DNA of an unidentified male was detected on the shoulder and sleeves, according to the Jan. 8, 2020 lab report, which was reviewed by Reuters.

 

If the dress does contain traces of Trump’s DNA, it would not prove his guilt. But a match could be used as evidence that he had contact with the dress and to help disprove his claims that he never met Carroll, according to two forensic experts not involved in the case.

 

“How his DNA got on that dress would be the argument,” said Monte Miller, a biochemist who runs a DNA analysis consultancy and previously worked at the Texas Department of Public Safety’s State Crime Laboratory. “It’s for the attorneys and the courts and everybody else to argue about why it’s there and how it got there.”

 

Carroll said she’s confident the DNA on the dress belongs to Trump and wants her day in court. She said she now sleeps with a gun next to her bed because she has received death threats since publicly accusing Trump.

 

“This defamation suit is not about me,” said Carroll, who meets regularly with other women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. It’s about every woman “who can’t speak up.”

 

(Reporting by Linda So; editing by Jason Szep and Brian Thevenot)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-24

 

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[from the home of CC]

I read that  they <deleted> on him in Russia, isn't impersonation of a toilet a crime?

[Justgrazing]

25 minutes ago, webfact said:

 

Trump denied the allegations and called Zervos a liar,

 

Bit rich that is coming from someone who even fibbed about it not raining on his inauguration day ..  

[helpisgood]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Trump’s lawyers delayed the case in part by arguing that the pressing duties of his office made responding to civil lawsuits impossible.

 

Yeah, sure.  Trump had all of that "executive time" required by his office.  Surely do not want to miss an important TV program while running the country.  ????  

Edited February 23, 2021 by helpisgood

[helpisgood]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

She plans to be there if Trump is deposed.

 

How would you like to be one of Trump's attorneys coaching him as to how to answer questions under oath at a deposition?  Trump is such a "loose canon."  He's already cavalierly referred to the woman, plaintiff, as "not my type."  This itself might be worth a book deal.    

[Tug]

Oh how I hope there is dna on her dress and dear donald has to give a sample lol.of course donald is gonna try to play the everyone is picking on me game 

[EVENKEEL]

Another nothing story, an old lady trying to cash in and get a sec in the spotlight.

[PatOngo]

Lock him up..........................................................!

[Jeffr2]

23 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Another nothing story, an old lady trying to cash in and get a sec in the spotlight.

Sad when people bash an old lady. And praise a misogynist. Stunning.

 

This would be the trial of the century. Maybe Trump will bring back Rudy for entertainment. Dripping hair dye and all! LOL

[KarenBravo]

Under oath? You think that will make a difference to Trump?

He'll lie. A life-time habit which he's not particularly good at.

[animalmagic]

2 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

Under oath? You think that will make a difference to Trump?

He'll lie. A life-time habit which he's not particularly good at.

That's good news.  Hmm, what's the punishment for lying under oath?  

[tilaceer]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

Another nothing story, an old lady trying to cash in and get a sec in the spotlight.

Such a nothing story that that Trumps personal lawyer, Barr, tried to have the DOJ take over the case as Trumps defense when the investigation got to the discovery phase, ie give us your DNA.
You should be ashamed of that comment, but as a trumper I doubt that is possible.

[cmarshall]

2 hours ago, helpisgood said:

 

How would you like to be one of Trump's attorneys coaching him as to how to answer questions under oath at a deposition?  Trump is such a "loose canon."  He's already cavalierly referred to the woman, plaintiff, as "not my type."  This itself might be worth a book deal.    

Not really.  Trump has been through countless depositions.  He knows what to say and what not to say.  You can find a video of one of Trump's depositions on youtube.  His every response is evasive.  He even complains that he can't read a contract in front of him, because he didn't bring his glasses.

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

Not really.  Trump has been through countless depositions.  He knows what to say and what not to say.  You can find a video of one of Trump's depositions on youtube.  His every response is evasive.  He even complains that he can't read a contract in front of him, because he didn't bring his glasses.

Having his accuser, a woman, sitting on the other side of the table might very well change his demeanor.

 

He hates women standing up to him.

[Srikcir]

“If a deponent refuses to answer a question at a deposition, and the answer is not protected by a privilege or otherwise as set forth in the state’s rules, the deposing attorney may file a motion with the court to compel a response. They may even obtain monetary sanctions against the deponent for a refusal to answer (source).” 

https://depositionacademy.com/answering-questions-during-depositions/

So for Trump, a lot of "I don't recall," "I lost my long-term memory because of Covid-19 infection,", etc.

Lying under oath is perjury, a felony and even if in a civil case, could be referred to federal court for adjudication.

[cmarshall]

8 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

“If a deponent refuses to answer a question at a deposition, and the answer is not protected by a privilege or otherwise as set forth in the state’s rules, the deposing attorney may file a motion with the court to compel a response. They may even obtain monetary sanctions against the deponent for a refusal to answer (source).” 

https://depositionacademy.com/answering-questions-during-depositions/

So for Trump, a lot of "I don't recall," "I lost my long-term memory because of Covid-19 infection,", etc.

Lying under oath is perjury, a felony and even if in a civil case, could be referred to federal court for adjudication.

 

Lying under oath is indeed perjury for which there are severe penalties, but the bottom line is perjury is rarely charged.  Even Mike Flynn was not charged with perjury, but with lying to the FBI which is a distinct crime.

Edited February 24, 2021 by cmarshall

[Tropposurfer]

2 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

Sad when people bash an old lady. And praise a misogynist. Stunning.

 

This would be the trial of the century. Maybe Trump will bring back Rudy for entertainment. Dripping hair dye and all! LOL

Here here ... stunning indeed in its misogyny

[Rimmer]

An off topic troll post has been removed

[wwest5829]

The Donald's defense ... I did not rape anyone, I paid them fair and square. 

[Scott]

Troll posts and replies removed.  

 

[Bluespunk]

Lock him up

[placeholder]

5 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

So you've done the DNA research?  I guess the courts, and likely the former guy's legal team, will be calling you as an expert witness.

 

The DNA itself will prove he had contact with her, but if there is something else on that dress, like potential siblings of jr, that will say a lot more.

 

The courts will determine if her case has merit and allow it to go to trial. Discovery could prove quite entertaining, as he is often his own worst enemy. Still, no matter what he claims, the DNA, especially if 'other fluids' are present, will be damning. He will have to switch from 'not my type' to 'it was consensual'. He will be exposed, as unpleasant as that word and him together sound.

I actually made the same assumption about fluids bearing DNA being evidence. Another poster pointed out my error by noting that the DNA evidence doesn't come from bodily fluids.

[herfiehandbag]

Counsel for the prosecution:

" Mr Trump, is it fair to state that this is the only <deleted> you have had which you have not paid for?"

 

Counsel for the defence:

"My client is resigned to paying for it eventually!"

[Tug]

4 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Another nothing story, an old lady trying to cash in and get a sec in the spotlight.

And if she has evidence what then?test the dress test the dress lol

[Eric Loh]

OMG Trump clicked on most different type of crime. Personal (sexual) crimes, inchoate (conspiracy and abetting) crimes and financial (tax frauds) crimes. What a disgusting person he is and to think he was once a President of USA. ???? 

[Bluespunk]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Other accusers include a former model who claims Trump sexually assaulted her at the 1997 U.S. Open tennis tournament; a former Miss Universe pageant contestant who said Trump groped her in 2006; and a reporter who alleges Trump forcibly kissed her without her consent in 2005 at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

 

Trump has denied the allegations and called them politically motivated.

Hmm...

 

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The two chatted, she said. Trump asked her to pick out a gift for an unidentified woman, and they eventually ended up in the lingerie department.

Hmm...

 

It does sound like the sort of thing he bragged about doing when conversing with billy bush

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html

 

[bronzedude]

Trump's probably wishing his good friend Jeffrey Epstein was still alive so he could ask for advice on how to evade scorned women.

[Proboscis]

5 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Another nothing story, an old lady trying to cash in and get a sec in the spotlight.

Not so sure about that. If it were only one person, old or not (and she was not old when the alleged assault took place) making the accusation, then claiming that this is someone trying to "cash in" might be a point. But she is not poor. And there are a bunch of sexual allegations, from paying off hookers to other assault allegations, against this man. And that is why it is worth investigating.

 

Besides, why not investigate and see what is there rather than rush to judgement that she is an "old lady trying to cash in." Maybe she is someone who wants to see some justice.

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, bronzedude said:

Trump's probably wishing his good friend Jeffrey Epstein was still alive so he could ask for advice on how to evade scorned women.

why would trump want advice from a rapist scumbag, epstein's alleged connections couldn't spare him...

 

 

and exactly what do you mean by ''scorned women''?

Edited February 24, 2021 by Bluespunk

[micmichd]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Trump may soon have to answer rape allegations under oath

By Linda So

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump rape accuser E. Jean Carroll departs from her hearing at federal court during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., October 21, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

 

(Reuters) - During a December visit to New York City, writer E. Jean Carroll says she went shopping with a fashion consultant to find the “best outfit” for one of the most important days of her life - when she’ll sit face-to-face with the man she accuses of raping her decades ago, former President Donald Trump.

 

The author and journalist hopes that day will come this year. Her lawyers are seeking to depose Trump in a defamation lawsuit that Carroll filed against the former president in November 2019 after he denied her accusation that he raped her at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump said he never knew Carroll and accused her of lying to sell her new book, adding: “She’s not my type.”

 

She plans to be there if Trump is deposed.

 

“I am living for the moment to walk into that room to sit across the table from him,” Carroll told Reuters in an interview. “I think of it everyday.”

 

Carroll, 77, a former Elle magazine columnist, seeks unspecified damages in her lawsuit and a retraction of Trump’s statements. It is one of two defamation cases involving sexual misconduct allegations against Trump that could move forward faster now that he has left the presidency. While in office, Trump’s lawyers delayed the case in part by arguing that the pressing duties of his office made responding to civil lawsuits impossible.

 

“The only barrier to proceeding with the civil suits was that he’s the president,” said Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor and now an adjunct professor of clinical law at the New York University School of Law.

 

“I think there will be a sense among the judges that it’s time to get a move on in these cases,” said Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney.

 

An attorney for Trump and another representative of the former president did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Trump faces a similar defamation lawsuit from Summer Zervos, a former contestant on his reality television show “The Apprentice.” In 2016, Zervos accused Trump of sexual misconduct, saying that he kissed her against her will at a 2007 meeting in New York and later groped her at a California hotel as the two met to discuss job opportunities.

 

Trump denied the allegations and called Zervos a liar, prompting her to sue him for defamation in 2017, seeking damages and a retraction. Trump tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed, arguing that, as president, he was immune from suits filed in state courts. His lawyers appealed to the New York Court of Appeals, which is still considering the case.

 

Zervos filed a motion in early February asking the court to resume the case now that Trump’s no longer president.

 

Zervos and Carroll are among more than two dozen women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct that they say occurred in the years before he became president.

 

Other accusers include a former model who claims Trump sexually assaulted her at the 1997 U.S. Open tennis tournament; a former Miss Universe pageant contestant who said Trump groped her in 2006; and a reporter who alleges Trump forcibly kissed her without her consent in 2005 at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

 

Trump has denied the allegations and called them politically motivated.

 

In September, after several unsuccessful attempts by Trump’s lawyers to get Carroll’s case dismissed or delayed, U.S. Justice Department officials under his administration took the unusual step of asking that the government be substituted for Trump as the defendant in the case.

 

Justice Department lawyers argued that Trump, like any typical government employee, is entitled under federal law to immunity from civil lawsuits when performing his job. They argued that he was acting in his capacity as president when he said Carroll was lying.

 

Legal experts said it was unprecedented for the Justice Department to defend a president for conduct before he took office. When Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan rejected that argument, the Justice Department appealed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has yet to rule on it.

 

It’s yet to be seen whether Justice Department officials under President Joe Biden, who took office last month, will continue to defend the case on Trump’s behalf. The White House and the Justice Department declined to comment.

 

If the appeals court upholds Judge Kaplan’s decision, it would likely clear the way for Trump to be deposed by Carroll’s lawyers.

 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE DNA

Carroll’s lawyers are also seeking a DNA sample from Trump. Carroll says she still has the dress she was wearing when Trump allegedly attacked her.

 

“I hung it in my closet,” she said.

 

Carroll said she randomly crossed paths with Trump in the Bergdorf Goodman’s store in the mid-1990s. Carroll, who hosted a TV talk show at the time, said Trump recognized her.

 

The two chatted, she said. Trump asked her to pick out a gift for an unidentified woman, and they eventually ended up in the lingerie department. After asking her to try on a body suit, Trump closed the door in a dressing room, pinned her against a wall, unzipped his pants and sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint.

 

Carroll said she told two friends about the alleged attack shortly after it happened, but did not report Trump to police, fearing retribution from the wealthy and well-connected businessman. Decades later, Carroll went public with her story in a June 2019 New York magazine article, adapted from a new book, “What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.”

 

She said she was inspired to recount the incident by the #MeToo movement, which emboldened women to share their experiences of sexual assault and harassment. In photos shot for that story, Kaplan, at the request of the magazine’s photography director, wore the same black Donna Karan dress that she said she had worn on the day that Trump allegedly assaulted her.

 

When Carroll filed her lawsuit later in 2019, her lawyer, Kaplan, had a guard escort her to retrieve the dress from her closet for forensic testing. An analysis concluded no semen was found on the dress, but the DNA of an unidentified male was detected on the shoulder and sleeves, according to the Jan. 8, 2020 lab report, which was reviewed by Reuters.

 

If the dress does contain traces of Trump’s DNA, it would not prove his guilt. But a match could be used as evidence that he had contact with the dress and to help disprove his claims that he never met Carroll, according to two forensic experts not involved in the case.

 

“How his DNA got on that dress would be the argument,” said Monte Miller, a biochemist who runs a DNA analysis consultancy and previously worked at the Texas Department of Public Safety’s State Crime Laboratory. “It’s for the attorneys and the courts and everybody else to argue about why it’s there and how it got there.”

 

Carroll said she’s confident the DNA on the dress belongs to Trump and wants her day in court. She said she now sleeps with a gun next to her bed because she has received death threats since publicly accusing Trump.

 

“This defamation suit is not about me,” said Carroll, who meets regularly with other women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. It’s about every woman “who can’t speak up.”

 

(Reporting by Linda So; editing by Jason Szep and Brian Thevenot)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-24

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Isn't there something like a statue of limitations in the USA?