(Updates with comment from former prosecutor in third section. Trump, 22-cv-10016, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). He says Carroll’s lawsuit, like all the cases and probes he faces, is part of a politically motivated effort to undermine his campaign to return to the White House in 2024. Trump, 76, has denied assaulting Carroll or any of the other women who have made accusations against him. The judge declined to give the jury such an explanation, and said the court and city could handle security if Trump decided to show up.Ĭarroll, 79, has already taken the witness stand. “I think it would be akin to legal malpractice for a lawyer to permit Trump to take the stand,” she said.īefore the trial started, Tacopina asked Kaplan to tell the jury that any absence by Trump was the result of security concerns. She said Trump’s demeanor and his promotion of falsehoods make it a sound decision. “The upshot is that this is the worst of both worlds for Trump,” O’Brien said.įormer federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, now at the University of Michigan’s law school, looks at it differently. Still, jurors will hear plenty from Trump’s sworn answers to questions during his deposition, some of which were “disastrous” for the former president and will be submitted into evidence anyway by Carroll’s lawyers, O’Brien said. “Jurors can infer that Trump lacked the courage or the conviction to appear before them.” “It’s a very bad look,” former federal prosecutor Kevin O’Brien said. Read More: Trump Jury Hears From Woman Who Claims 1970s Assault on Airplane Defendants in such civil trials aren’t required to attend, though declining to take the stand can sometimes work against them if jurors expect to hear them respond to the claims.

Whether Trump would attend the trial, let alone testify in it, had been hanging over the proceedings since a deadline for Tacopina to reveal his client’s decision came and went last week.

“All he could say is, I didn’t do it … again.” “He has nothing more to add,” Tacopina said in a text message. “Yes,” Tacopina said, without elaborating.Ĭontacted later, the defense lawyer said Trump’s denial of Carroll’s claims are already on the record in his videotaped deposition, portions of which will be played for the jury.

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