After the pleadings in the civil trial for rape against former US President Donald Trump, the twelve jurors will now deliberate on a verdict.
During the closing speeches, Jean Carroll’s lawyer repeated the accusation that Trump raped her in a New York luxury department store in the mid-1990s: “He knows what he did.” Trump’s lawyer rejected this again. The allegations are “unimaginable” and “unbelievable”. Trump was already prominent as a real estate entrepreneur at this point, so such an act would not have gone unnoticed.
Carroll is demanding compensation from Trump for assault and defamation. The 79-year-old had testified that she was no longer able to have romantic relationships after the incident. The criminal allegations are statute-barred, but under civil law Carroll was free to file a lawsuit. Trump, who wants to become president again in 2024 and is applying for the Republican nomination, did not come to the trial in person.
An old audio recording from 2005 also played a role in the arguments of Carroll’s lawyers, in which Trump made lewd and derogatory comments about women – and about the fact that as a star you could also touch women’s genitals if you wanted to. This was not – as portrayed by Trump – talk among men, but a confession, the way he behaved. He did the same with Carroll.
Judge Lewis Kaplan is scheduled to send the jurors to their deliberations today. Then they have to make a unanimous decision to come to a verdict.
