On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump answered questions under oath in a defamation lawsuit filed by a writer who claims he raped her in the mid-1990s.
Roberta Kaplan, attorney E. Jean Carroll, a longtime Elle magazine columnist, confirmed NBC News said Trump was ousted on Wednesday. When asked how long the testimony lasted, Kaplan said the information was considered classified.
Carroll sued Trump for defamation in 2019 after the then-president denied her allegations that he raped her in the locker room of an upscale Manhattan department store. Trump damaged Carroll’s reputation by denying Carroll’s allegations, the lawsuit said.
A judge ruled last week that the former president must testify in the case, rejecting a request by Trump’s lawyers to delay his testimony. Trump’s lawyers had tried to drop the lawsuit, arguing he was acting as president when he denied the rape charges — an argument designed to make the U.S. government a defendant and reduce Carroll’s success while protecting federal employees. Chance. Prosecute conduct at work.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote that the lawsuit must continue after three years on the brink of law, citing the “advanced age of 77-year-old Carroll and 76-year-old Trump and potential witnesses” “.
“Defendants should not be allowed time-out while plaintiffs attempt to obtain remedy for allegedly grossly wronged circumstances,” Kaplan wrote.
Kaplan noted with disapproval Trump’s series of attempts to delay gathering evidence in his defamation lawsuit.
“Given his conduct thus far in this case, Mr. Trump’s position on the burden of discovery is inexcusable,” he wrote. “As this Court has previously observed, Mr. Trump has been filing suit since the beginning of 2019, the effect of which may be to delay it.”
Trump took aim at Carroll in earlier posts on his social media platforms after a judge rejected his request to delay his testimony.
“This Ms. Bergdorf Goodman case is a complete hoax,” Trump wrote.
NBC News has reached out to a Trump spokesman for comment on Wednesday’s testimony.
Trump has repeatedly denied ever meeting with Carroll, saying she was “completely lying” when she accused her of sexual assault.
“I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, okay?” Trump told The Hill in 2019.
In a court filing last month, Carroll’s lawyers said she plans to sue Trump in November under a new New York statute that allows victims of sexual assault to sue years after the alleged incident .
Adam Rice and Zoe Richards contributed.