In the ongoing civil trial, in which journalist E. Jean Carroll accuses former president Donald Trump of raping and defaming her, the plaintiff’s case is expected to wrap up today. With Trump’s attorneys having announced that they will not present any defense case, I expect that the trial will be in recess tomorrow and resume on Monday with summations, followed by the court’s legal instructions and deliberations.
As we’ve previously noted, pursuant to Judge Lewis Kaplan’s pretrial ruling, Carroll was permitted to play the infamous Access Hollywood tape the jury. From the time it was leaked in 2016 and nearly derailed his presidential bid, Trump has always dismissed his vile recorded remarks as “locker room talk.” That worked — perhaps surprisingly — in a political campaign. It is probably not going to work in a trial, particularly when the jury notices that he did not show up in court – and when, because it’s a civil rather than a criminal case, the jurors will be instructed that they may infer from Trump’s failure to testify that he does not have an innocent explanation for the evidence presented against him (or, at least, did not want to submit to cross-examination on whatever explanation he may have).
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