Attorneys for Donald Trump are in search of to bar the “Access Hollywood” tape, which prompted widespread condemnation in the course of the 2016 presidential marketing campaign, from being utilized in an upcoming defamation trial introduced by a author who alleges Trump raped her.
In a court filing Thursday evening, Trump’s attorneys urged the choose presiding over author E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit towards the previous president to ban the 2005 video of Trump talking to Billy Bush, on the time an anchor for “Entry Hollywood,” as “irrelevant and extremely prejudicial.”
They additional argued that the contents of the the tape “don’t even tangentially relate to the core of [Carroll’s] declare” that Trump raped her within the altering room of a Manhattan division retailer within the mid-Nineteen Nineties after which lied about his actions when Carroll went public along with her accusation.
Court docket filings from Carroll present Trump defending his “Entry Hollywood” feedback in a deposition he gave final October. Carroll’s legal professional, Roberta Kaplan, has argued that Trump’s remarks within the 2005 video — which had been caught on a sizzling mic and have become public within the ultimate weeks of the 2016 presidential marketing campaign — assist present that what allegedly occurred to her shopper was not “an remoted act.”
Within the video, Trump will be heard saying, “I’m routinely interested in lovely girls — I simply begin kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Simply kiss. I don’t even wait. And whenever you’re a star, they allow you to do it. You are able to do something,” he mentioned, together with “seize ‘em by the p—-.”
Requested within the newly released portion of his October deposition if it was correct that he had made these remarks, Trump replied, “Nicely, traditionally, that’s true with stars,” in response to Carroll’s courtroom submitting.
“True with stars that they’ll seize girls by the p—-?” Kaplan requested. Trump responded, “Nicely, that’s what — for those who look during the last million years, I suppose that’s been largely true. Not at all times, however largely true. Sadly or luckily.”
Requested if he thought of himself a star, Trump responded, “I feel you’ll be able to say that, yeah.” He additionally maintained his feedback within the video had been the identical as he characterised them after they turned public in 2016: “locker room discuss.”
Trump advised Kaplan in the course of the deposition that the matter was “very closely litigated in the course of the marketing campaign, and as you in all probability heard, I gained.”
“On the finish, the general public mentioned that’s the one we would like for the president,” Trump added.
Kaplan declined to remark Friday on Trump’s effort to bar the “Entry Hollywood” tape from the trial, which is scheduled to start out in April. An legal professional for Trump didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the previous president’s newest submitting.
Carroll sued for defamation after Trump in 2019 accused her of mendacity about being raped, arguing she did so to advertise her e-book and earn cash. Carroll mentioned she was impressed to return ahead by the Me Too motion.
In a separate lawsuit, Carroll sued Trump in November after New York carried out a legislation permitting alleged victims of sexual assault a one-year window to file civil claims that might in any other case be time-prohibited by the state structure.
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., is at present weighing a key facet of the defamation case: whether or not Trump is protected against authorized claims for feedback he made whereas he was president.
The choose presiding over each instances in New York has set a late April trial date for the 2 lawsuits. In a Feb. 7 ruling, the choose mentioned he would resolve whether or not to consolidate the 2 instances at a later date.
Trump has referred to as Carroll’s rape accusations a “hoax“ and accused her of being a “whack job.”
In one other excerpt from his October deposition launched final month, Trump confused an image of Carroll from the Nineteen Nineties along with his then-wife Marla Maples. The remark probably threatens to undercut Trump’s repeated denials that Carroll is “not my type.”
