Trump deposed in a defamation case filed by E. Jean Carroll: REPORTS

Former President Donald Trump testified under oath Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a magazine columnist who claims Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

Carroll’s lawyers used the deposition to question Trump about the assault allegations as well as statements he made in 2019 when she told her story publicly for the first time.

The deposition’s outcome was not immediately disclosed.

“We’re pleased that on behalf of our client, E. Jean Carroll, we were able to take Donald Trump’s deposition today. We are not able to comment further,” the law firm representing her, Kaplan Hecker & Fink, said in a statement.

According to Trump, Carroll’s rape allegation is “a hoax and a lie.”

For years, his legal team worked to postpone his deposition in the lawsuit, which was filed while the Republican was still president. Last week, a federal judge denied Trump’s request for another delay, stating that he couldn’t “run the clock out on the plaintiff’s attempt to gain a remedy for what allegedly was a serious wrong.”

Alina Habba, an attorney representing Trump, said Wednesday, “My client was pleased to set the record straight today. This case is nothing more than a political ploy like many others in the long list of witch hunts against Donald Trump.”

Carroll was scheduled to be questioned by Trump’s attorneys last Friday. Neither she nor Trump’s attorneys have responded to questions about how the deposition went.

The lawyers have also not revealed whether Trump’s deposition was conducted in person or remotely via video. On Wednesday, Trump was in Florida. The case is being heard in a New York City court.

Anything Trump says during his deposition could be used as evidence in a future civil trial. He has not faced any criminal charges in connection with Carroll’s allegations, and any prosecution is highly unlikely.

The deadline for filing criminal charges in connection with alleged sexual assaults in the 1990s has definitely expired.

Civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault faced similar legal deadlines. As a result, Carroll decided to sue Trump for defamation for remarks he made in 2019 in which he denied any wrongdoing. She claims that his denials and attacks on her credibility and character have affected her reputation.

In a recent statement, Trump called that story “a complete con job.”

“I don’t know this woman, have no idea who she is, other than it seems she got a picture of me many years ago, with her husband, shaking my hand on a reception line at a celebrity charity event,” Trump said.