U.S. News

Team Trump Will Not Call Any Witnesses in E. Jean Carroll Rape Trial: Lawyer

TAKE IT LYING DOWN

Neither Trump nor the one other person on the defense’s witness list prior to the start of the trial will testify in court, Joe Tacopina said.

Joe Tacopina
Brendan McDermid/Reuters

A lawyer for Donald Trump told the judge presiding over the former president’s civil trial in a rape and defamation lawsuit brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll said that he would not present any witnesses in the case. The attorney, Joe Tacopina, confirmed that the one other witness on the defense’s list besides Trump himself would not testify due to unspecified “health issues.” Tacopina previously said Tuesday that Trump—who is in Scotland this week for the opening of a new golf course—would not take the stand. “It is his call,” U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan replied, according to NBC News. The court did hear from Trump on Wednesday, however, when Carroll’s lawyers played a videotape of his October deposition for the jury. More of the tape is expected to be played on Thursday, after which Carroll’s lawyers are expected to wrap up their case. Kaplan told the jury that it will likely begin deliberations early next week.

Read it at NBC News