Donald Trump may have severely damaged his case in the defamation lawsuit brought against him by a woman who accused him of rape by expressing "repeated lies" during his deposition, according to an attorney.
Katie Phang, legal analyst and MSNBC host, was reacting to the unsealed transcripts of the testimony Trump gave as part of the suit brought forward by former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll accused the former president of raping her at a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in New York in the mid-1990s. Trump denies the allegation.
Carroll is suing Trump for defaming her character while denying the allegations, including stating in a 2019 interview that she was "not my type." Trump later repeated the same remarks in a statement posted on Truth Social in October 2022, just before his deposition took place.
During his testimony, which was unsealed on Monday, Trump defended his "not my type" remarks while also calling the rape claim from Carroll a "hoax" and his accuser a "whack job" and a "liar."
Trump also accused a number of investigations and inquiries against him of being "hoaxes," including Robert Mueller's Russia probe and the former president's first impeachment trial. Trump also repeated his false voter fraud claims, describing mail-in-ballots as a hoax despite admitting that's how he votes in elections.
During Monday's episode on Deadline: White House, MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace asked Phang, apart from making him "sound like a jack***," what was the legal significance of Trump making these comments under oath.
"The legal significance is he steps in it and over and over again," Phang said. "And more importantly, later on in his deposition, he basically denies flat out that he's ever touched a woman and any part of her body—specifically is denying touching a woman on her breast or buttocks or any other sexual part without her consent.
"He said no under oath. The whole world knows that on an Access Hollywood tape, he boasted about how he would grab them by the 'blank,' and you could do it when you're a star," Phang added. "He's caught in repeated lies throughout the course of this sworn videotaped deposition."
Phang added that Trump's under-oath testimony will definitely be used against him as when Carroll's defamation case is brought to trial in April as "the more that you are painted as a liar, the more that you are a liar and a jury is going to determine that."
Elsewhere, Phang said Trump also did not help himself as he was "stupid" enough to not only repeat his "not my type" remark regarding Carroll on Truth Social in October, but "stupid enough to step in repeatedly" during his deposition.
"He's gonna go to trial in April and he is more likely than not going to be found liable for the claims that are brought by [Carroll], and that is why this videotaped deposition is so important," Phang added.
Trump has been contacted for comment.
cwood1973 on January 17th, 2023 at 16:37 UTC »
The depo transcript is nuttier than a jar of peanut butter.
The transcript opens with Carroll's testimony. Trump's testimony starts on page 15 of 48 (numbered page 125). A few examples:
Trump: Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical, left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things."
Carroll's Attorney: Do you know who her publisher was?
Trump: No. I just heard it was a publisher that did some very bad books on us.
Carroll's Attorney: And as of today, you have approximately four million followers on Truth Social?
Trump: I don't know the number. I know Truth Social is doing very well. I think it was number one ahead of TikTok, number one ahead of Twitter, number one ahead of Instagram and everyone else for the last number of days. I just noticed that. Somebody put it on my desk. They have the ratings, and they said Truth Social is hot.
Carroll's Attorney: Why did you decide to issue the statement on Truth Social on October 12th?
Trump: Because I was offended at this woman's lie. Because I was offended that she could just make up a story out of cold air, refuted by her testimony on CNN, but that she could make up a story just out of nowhere and that I get a phone call asking me about this ridiculous situation. The woman -- there's something wrong with her in my opinion. Okay. But it's a false accusation. Never happened, never would happen. And I posted and I will continue to post until such time as -- and then I will sue her after this is over, and that's the thing I really look forward to doing. And I'll sue you too because this is -- how many cases do you have? Many, many cases, and I know the statements that were made -- that you made. Keep Trump busy because this is the way you defeat him, to keep him busy with litigation. So I will be suing you also, but I'll be suing her very strongly as soon as this case ends. But I'll be suing you also.
Carroll's Attorney: Are you done?
Trump: Yeah.
Cheese_Pancakes on January 17th, 2023 at 15:50 UTC »
The parts of that deposition that were released really illustrate not just how despicable Trump is, but how feeble his mind has gotten. Ranting and raving about the election, the investigations into him as POTUS, name dropping Biden, etc. - in a civil case that has nothing to do with any of that. That guy is a sociopath with an absolutely broken brain. That in itself makes the fact that he was POTUS terrifying, even if we knew nothing else about all the lying and cruel and dangerous stuff he actually did.
I think there was only one time he actually said "what does that have to do with this case?", but in all other cases, he took the bait and just rambled in circles with all his greatest hits. Seeing it in writing also drew extra attention to the fact that he often repeated the same sentence, almost verbatim, 2-3 times in several of his answers.
None of this is surprising or new, but I found it interesting that he still threw out the same lying word-vomit in this deposition as he would at one of his safe-space rallies. This is why I can't help but question the sanity of anyone who thinks this motherfucker is sharp and/or smart.
KinkyKitty24 on January 17th, 2023 at 15:08 UTC »
In his deposition, Trump actually said that E Jean Caroll said she "liked" being raped by Trump in an interview with Anderson Cooper. Wallace then played the interview and (shockingly) Caroll said no such thing.