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NEW YORK, May 5 (AP) Jurors who watched Donald Trump’s video testimony on Thursday heard the former president mock a woman who accused him of rape as a “crazy job” and a “psychopath,” experts estimate. The plaintiff’s reputation loss of nearly USD 30,000 may be caused.
Transcripts of Trump’s testimony about E. Jean Carroll appeared in court documents before the trial, but the testimony played in court allowed jurors to hear him recount the case in his own voice. Additional parts of the recording were shown in court on Wednesday.
The video that aired on Thursday also included Trump sticking to his previous comments that Carroll was not his “type” and referring to his infamous bragging about grabbing female genitals that he recorded on “Access Hollywood” in 2005. Called “locker room talk.”
Later, Ashlee Humphreys, a Northwestern University sociologist, testified that Trump’s October 2022 statement reiterating earlier denials cost Carroll $3.68 million to her reputation. $2.76 million in damages.
Humphreys testified that Trump’s statement was posted on his Truth Social platform days before his testimony and was seen by an estimated 13.8 million to 18 million people. She cites social science modeling done by her attorney representing Carroll.
Humphreys said Trump’s earlier denials did more reputational damage because Trump claimed he never met Carroll and said shortly after she went public in June 2019. She was “completely lying”.
Those estimates could be a factor if a jury finds Trump defamed Carroll and has to weigh financial damages.
Carroll, a 79-year-old author and former magazine advice columnist, claims Trump raped her on an unspecified date in the spring of 1996 in the dressing room of an upscale New York department store.
According to Carroll, they bumped into each other, had a light-hearted banter about trying on underwear, then jokingly walked into the fitting room, where he slammed the door and suddenly became violent.
She didn’t make her allegations public and take legal action until 2019, but two of her friends testified that she described the attack to them shortly after Carroll said it happened.
“I believed it then, and I believe it today,” one of the friends, Carol Martin, a former TV news anchor, said on the witness stand Thursday.
Trump, 76, said Carroll fabricated the entire encounter and that he never met her, except for a brief pleasantries at a social event in 1987.
“I think she’s sick, mentally ill,” Trump said quietly in his testimony. He added: “She said I did something to her that never happened. Nothing. I don’t know anything about this crazy job.”
Trump was not at the trial, and his lawyer said he would not testify or call any witnesses on his behalf.
However, Trump, speaking to reporters on Thursday while heading for a golf trip to Ireland, said he would “probably participate” in the trial, which is expected to end next week.
His lawyer went on to say he had no plans to do so.
Trump’s social media posts criticizing the case early in the trial angered trial judge Lewis Kaplan, who also repeated his claims, calling it a political “hoax” and blasting Bill Clinton appointees. Kaplan was an “extremely hostile” and “rude judge” who “didn’t like me very much.
The AP typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll did. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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