BREAKING NEWS: This came in just as I was ready to post the more on Trump rape case.
This update from The HILL with this headline:
“Trump
found liable for sexual battery, defamation in E. Jean Carroll trial”
A jury found that Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her by denying her claims, marking the first time that Trump has been found liable for sexual misconduct at a trial.
The nine-member jury found that Trump did not commit rape, but jurors found him liable for sexual abuse, another form of sexual battery, according to the Associated Press.
As a civil case, Carroll had to prove her claims by a preponderance of evidence.
Trump faces no related
criminal charges, which would have required a higher standard. During the
nearly two-week-long trial in federal court, Carroll told jurors that Trump
raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in New York City during the
spring of 1996.
DEVELOPING STORY
My original post
prior to that breaking news:
The former L-in-C (Liar-in-Chief) strikes again … and “Gomer Pyle” would say:
This article from Law & Crime proves my point
with his current whopper (no, and not the sandwich) seen below and from Trump himself
with this headline:
“On cusp of deliberations,
Trump falsely claims on Truth Social that he’s not allowed to speak or defend’
himself”
Trump falsely claimed on TRUTH Social Tuesday (May 9) morning. “Waiting for a jury decision on a False Accusation where I, despite being a current political candidate and leading all others in both parties, am not allowed to speak or defend myself, even as hard-nosed reporters scream questions about this case at me. In the meantime, the other side has a book falsely accusing me of Rape, & is working with the press.”
FACTS: Trump declined multiple attempts to testify live that were offered to him by a federal judge.
Also, exactly one week ago,
Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina informed Senior
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that his client would not testify live.
Tacopina added the next day that the defense would not present any case at all.
Even then, Judge Kaplan left the door slightly ajar for Trump to change his mind. The judge gave the former president a deadline of Sunday (May 7) to request to reopen the defense case, in order to allow Trump to testify.
That
deadline came and went without any application from Trump’s attorneys.
Trump avoiding appearing
in court, while misstating the facts of the case on his social media platform,
had gotten him in trouble earlier in the trial.
Just before Carroll first
took the stand on April 26, Trump swiped at her allegations as a “made up SCAM”
— in a post that brought up topics barred from trial.
Trump implied that he
wanted to admit DNA evidence into the case, which the judge wrongly prohibited.
For years, Trump declined to produce DNA material for Carroll’s legal team. He changed his mind, proposing a trade for discovery materials that the judge panned as a “quid pro quo.”
Carroll’s legal team called Trump’s about-face on the DNA issue a
delay tactic, and the judge ultimately found Trump made his belated request too
late.
Judge Kaplan in late
April when presented with that prior Truth Social post, pointedly urged
Tacopina to speak to his client to keep him from “potential liability” adding:
“I hope you’re more successful because we are getting into an area,
conceivably, in which your client may or may not be tampering with a new source
of potential liability. I think you know what I mean.”
Judge Kaplan spelled
out his implication more clearly later that day, noting: “I am simply
suggesting to you that there are some relevant United States statutes here and
somebody on your side ought to be thinking about them.”
Former federal
prosecutor Mitchell Epner, now a partner for the firm Rottenberg Lipman Rich PC
said he believed Carroll’s legal team may decide to escalate matters, adding:
“I would not be surprised if Roberta Kaplan moves by order to show cause for
dramatic financial sanctions on former President Trump for today’s untruthful
post on Truth Social.”
(Note: Carroll’s lead
attorney shares the same surname with the judge, but isn’t related to him).
Judge Kaplan has been instructing the jury on the law on
Tuesday morning, and they are expected to begin deliberations later in the day.
They will determine whether to hold Trump civilly liable for one count of
sexual battery and another of defamation.
My 2 Cents: Then Trump
strikes as noted above … stay tuned – this is apt to get very, very ugly – and again
surprise, surprise, surprise.
Thanks for stopping by.
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