NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s attempt to keep key evidence from his civil rape trial next month was rejected by a federal judge Monday.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan ruled that a key witness would be allowed to testify that misogynistic comments Trump made about women in 2005 when he did not know they were being recorded could be played for a jury that will listen for a quarter of a century. rape allegations made by a former magazine columnist.
The trial in the case filed by E. Jean Carroll is scheduled to begin April 25. Carroll and Trump are expected to testify.
Carroll said in her 2019 memoir that she was raped by Trump in the mid-1990s in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a department store in Manhattan. They said that there were occasions when light-hearted banter turned violent when they entered the small room while teasing each other about who would try on their lingerie.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that he never met Carroll at the store and that he did not know who he was. During his October deposition, he misidentified a decades-old photo as one of his ex-wife.
In the deposition, Trump rejected Carroll’s claims, saying: “Physically she’s not my type.”
Kaplan had previously ruled that comments recorded by Trump made on the “Access Hollywood” tape could be used in the defamation case Carroll brought against him before he filed a rape claim against someone in November, when a temporary law came into effect allowing adult rape victims to sue. their abusers, even if the attack happened decades ago.
They also ruled that two women who made allegations of sexual harassment under similar circumstances to those alleged by Carroll could testify in court.
The Hollywood Access tapes were revealed weeks before Trump won the November 2016 presidential election.
In the tape, he says that sometimes he sees a beautiful woman: “I just kiss her. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss me. I don’t even wait.” And he added, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” including holding a woman between her legs.
Afterwards, he issued a rare apology, saying the comments were “locker room banter” caught on a hot mic.
Lawyers for Trump and Carroll have agreed that the defamation claim, made in a separate lawsuit, can be tried together with the rape claim, but the judge rejected the existing proposal, saying that the defamation lawsuit can be tried separately or not at all if Justice. The department succeeded in replacing Trump as a defendant with the United States.
In Monday’s order, Kaplan specifically ruled that he would allow the “Access Hollywood” tapes and testimony by two other women who say Trump sexually assaulted them to be included in court next month, reversing his ruling from the defamation case.
“There is no reason, and Mr. Trump has not made a persuasive argument, for me to rule differently,” he wrote.
They also said they would testify from two men who worked in the department store at the time of the alleged rape, although Trump’s lawyers objected, saying they had not been notified of the testimony in a timely manner and had not. have the opportunity to depose witnesses.
The judge said the attorney for Carroll had notified the witness in a timely manner.
Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for Carroll, declined comment. A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.