“Donald Trump testifies under oath denying rape allegations in E. Jean Carroll case”

Former US President Donald Trump has testified in court that he did not rape writer E. Jean Carroll. He dismissed the author’s allegations in a video message as “ridiculous” and stated that no abuse had ever taken place.

The video was recorded in October last year in the presence of Carroll’s lawyers, but the content remained secret for all those months. Today the images were shown to a jury that is considering the charges against the author. She accuses Trump of libel in addition to rape.

Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll stated in 2019 that Trump raped her in the fitting room of a luxury department store in the mid-1990s. Last week, the 79-year-old author testified extensively about what would have happened. On Tuesday and Wednesday, two other women testified that they were sexually assaulted by Trump in 1979 and 2005.

During the hearing today, it turned out that Trump himself does not want to call witnesses. This means that next Monday is probably the last substantive session, after which the jury will deliberate. The former president has not appeared in court at any of the hearings.

Trump lashes out at Carroll with some regularity, including last week. On his social media network Truth Social, he spoke of cheating and an incorrect story. “Didn’t she scream? Were there no witnesses? No one who saw this?” he wondered.

The judge confronted Trump’s lawyer in court about the posts on Truth Social, which he found inappropriate.