New Delhi: Former US president Donald Trump has decided against testifying in a civil trial that involves allegations of rape levelled by writer E. Jean Carroll, as he let a Sunday deadline pass without asking the court to appear. Writer E. Jean Carroll in the lawsuit alleged that he raped her in the 1990s and later defamed her.
According to news agency Reuters, Trump's attorney, Joseph Tacopina, informed the judge on Thursday that Trump had waived his right to testify in the trial in Manhattan federal court and decided against presenting a defense in the case. With this move, Trump is taking a gamble, hoping that the jurors will find Carroll's case unpersuasive.
After the jury left for the day on Thursday, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan asked Tacopina to inform Trump that he had until Sunday at 5 pm to tell the court that he intended to testify, Reuters reported.
Kaplan has scheduled closing arguments from the two sides for Monday.
Carroll, 79, filed her lawsuit last year against Trump, 76, claiming that he raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996, and then defamed her by denying it happened. The former Elle magazine advice columnist is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Trump, who held office from 2017 to 2021 and is currently a leading contender for the Republican US presidential nomination in 2024, has consistently maintained that Carroll fabricated the allegation against him in order to boost sales of her memoir published in 2019.
In a video deposition played for the jury on Wednesday, Trump denied raping Carroll.
"It's the most ridiculous, disgusting story," Trump said in the video, hunched over a conference table as Carroll's lawyers presented documents to him. "It's just made up."
He also repeated comments he made in statements that she was not his “type”.
“She’s not my type and that’s 100 percent true,” he said.