During closing arguments Monday afternoon at the defamation trial of failed former president Donald Trump, an attorney for writer E. Jean Carroll, who brought the case against the ex-president, made it clear that the deposition of Trump shown last week to the jury is all the evidence jurors need to convict him.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan focused in on the portion of Trump’s testimony in which he said it was “unfortunately or fortunately” a historical fact that famous men can get away with sexually assaulting women.
“Who would say ‘fortunately’ to describe… sexual assault? He thinks stars like him can get away with it.”
Kaplan then added, “In a very real sense, Trump is a witness against himself. He knows he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll.”
Kaplan concluded her remarks to the jury by noting that if Trump were truly innocent, he would have shown up to tell his side of the story and rebut the allegations against him:
“He didn’t even bother to show up in person.”
If the jury concludes that Trump did indeed defame Carroll, they can award as much in monetary damages as they want. Also, a finding by the jury that the former president is guilty of defamation will, by definition, mean that a group of 12 men and women decided he did indeed commit rape.
