Trump Won't Be Testifying in Rape and Defamation Case

Former POTUS misses deadline to testify in E. Jean Carroll civil trial
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2023 12:20 AM CDT
Trump Won't Be Testifying in E. Jean Carroll Civil Trial
Former President Trump looks at a photograph, presented as evidence during his Oct. 19, 2022 deposition, that shows E. Jean Carroll, second left, and her then-husband John Johnson meeting Trump and his wife Ivanka at an event in the 1980s.   (Kaplan Hecker & Fink via AP)

Former President Trump won't be testifying in the civil trial over E. Jean Carroll's allegations of rape and defamation against him. A 5pm Sunday deadline for his team to file a request to testify came and went with nothing being filed, the Hill reports. That means his defense team will call no witnesses in the case, and closing arguments are expected to happen Monday, with the case likely going to the jury Tuesday. Trump never showed up in person for any portion of the proceedings, the AP reports, and his team had previously said he would not testify, though Trump did imply during a visit to Ireland last week that he would "probably attend."

His attorney rested the defense case Thursday immediately after Carroll's team rested its case, and did not request any additional time for Trump to testify. It was at that time the judge in the case said the window for Trump to request additional time would remain open until Sunday, noting Trump's recent comments that he might attend the trial after all, CNN reports. Carroll claims Trump raped her in a New York City department store dressing room in 1996 and defamed her years later when he accused her of falsifying the accusation. Trump denies all the claims. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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