Last Updated: May 08, 2023, 11:39 IST
Washington, United States
Trump will not be testifying in person, and his legal team told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday they will not be calling any witnesses. (Image: Reuters)
Donald Trump, a Republican candidate for the US president, was given until 5 pm on Sunday by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan to file a request to testify
Former US President Donald Trump will not testify at a civil trial to challenge claims made by writer E Jean Carroll that he raped her in the 1990s and later defamed her.
Trump, a Republican candidate for the US president, was given until 5 pm on Sunday by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan to file a request to testify. However, nothing was filed. Kaplan has scheduled closing arguments from the two sides for Monday.
Trump’s attorney Joseph Tacopina told the judge on Thursday that Trump had waived his right to testify in the trial in Manhattan federal court and opted not to present a defense in the case, gambling that jurors will find that Carroll had failed to make a persuasive case, Reuters reported.
Tacopina did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Carroll, 79, filed her lawsuit last year against Trump, 76, claiming he raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996.
She also claims that he defamed her when he accused her of lying after she went public with the allegation in 2019.
Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021 and is the current frontrunner for the Republican US presidential nomination in 2024, has said Carroll made up the allegation to drive sales of her 2019 memoir.
In a video deposition played for the jury on Wednesday, Trump denied raping Carroll.
“It’s the most ridiculous, disgusting story,” Trump said in the video, hunched over a conference table as Carroll’s lawyers presented documents to him. “It’s just made up.”
Trump has maintained his claim that he does not know who Carroll is and repeats several times that “she’s not my type.”
The case is one of several legal challenges facing Trump, as the 76-year-old Republican seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election.
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