A screen displays a former U.S. president Donald Trump’s video deposition in court during a civil trial where former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll accuses the former U.S. president in a civil lawsuit of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, and of defamation, in New York, U.S., May 4, 2023 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
A federal judge on Tuesday gave jurors their final instructions before they were set to begin deliberating at the civil trial where former President Donald Trump is accused of raping and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll.
Judge Lewis Kaplan also gave the jury the verdict form it will use during the deliberations in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. If jurors determine that Carroll proved either of her claims, they will decide whether to award her monetary damages.
Carroll, 79, alleges in a lawsuit that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. She also claims he defamed her last fall when he said she had made up the account. Trump called the allegations “a complete con job,” and said that she was not his “type.”
Trump, who leads early polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, did not testify during the trial.
But portions of his deposition taken last fall by Carroll’s lawyer were played for jurors during the trial, and during closing arguments on Monday.
Carroll took the witness stand. So did two women who testified she had told them right after the alleged incident that Trump had raped her.
Two other women testified that Trump had kissed and groped them without their consent in incidents that occurred years apart.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
