E. Jean Carroll concludes testimony as judge denies Trump’s mistrial request

NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s lawyer attempted to highlight inconsistencies in E. Jean Carroll’s testimony during her third and final day on the witness stand Monday in Manhattan federal court, seeking to discredit her allegation that the former president raped her decades ago.

During the final portion of his cross-examination of Carroll, Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina attempted to highlight what he presented as discrepancies between answers Carroll gave while testifying and statements she made in interviews, her book, depositions and social media posts prior to the trial.

Carroll, a longtime writer and advice columnist, is suing Trump for battery and defamation, claiming he raped her in a dressing room in the lingerie department at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury Manhattan department store, in the mid-1990s. Trump has denied the allegation, saying it “never happened.”

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Tacopina’s request for a mistrial based on what the lawyer described as “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings by the Court,” including instances in which Tacopina said Kaplan had “bolstered the testimony” of Carroll. The judge didn’t explain his decision to deny the motion.

Tacopina pointed out that in her deposition, Carroll said she had used the changing rooms at Bergdorf’s since the alleged rape. Moments earlier on the witness stand Monday, she said she didn’t think she had used a changing room at the department store in the years following the alleged incident.

Though she testified at trial last week that she hadn’t had a sexual relationship with anyone since Trump raped her, Tacopina played audio of a podcast in which Carroll said of the termination of her romantic life: “I think it wasn’t because of him. I think it was, I just didn’t have the luck to meet that person that would cause me to be desirous again. I think maybe in that dressing room my desire for desire was killed.”

At several points Monday, Tacopina questioned Carroll about her social media commentary, showing evidence to suggest she didn’t shy away from entertainment or humor connected to Trump. In a Facebook post, Carroll said she was a “MASSIVE” fan of “The Apprentice,” the reality television show Trump hosted, and Carroll testified that she “was a big fan of the show.”

“I was very impressed by it,” she said on the witness stand. “I had never seen such a witty competition on television.”

Tacopina also showed the jury a Facebook post from August 2012 in which Carroll wrote: “Would you have sex with Donald Trump for $17,000? Even if you could a) give the money to charity? b) close your eyes? And he’s not allowed to speak.”

“So you joked around about having sex with Donald Trump for money, right?” Tacopina asked. “Yes,” Carroll replied.

Tacopina questioned Carroll about a 2012 “Law & Order” episode involving a character who fantasizes about a rape taking place in a dressing room in the lingerie department at Bergdorf Goodman. Carroll, who went public with her allegation about Trump in 2019, said she has never seen the episode.

Tacopina asked if she found the similarities to be an “amazing coincidence.”

“Yes, it’s astonishing,” she said.

Noting that Carroll has said she never contacted the police after the alleged incident with Trump, Tacopina pointed out that she did contact the police at another point. Carroll acknowledged that she called the police one Halloween, after a group of children hit the mailbox at an upstate farmhouse where she was staying.

“So it’s your testimony you’ll call the police if a mailbox is attacked, but not if you’re personally attacked?” Tacopina asked. Carroll replied that was the one time she had ever contacted the police.

In response to questioning by Tacopina, Carroll testified that she often tells people her life is “fabulous,” but she explained to the jury that her positive attitude is “a front.”

“I don’t want anybody to know that I suffer,” she said. “Up until now, I would be ashamed to let people know what is actually going on.”

The trial is set to continue Tuesday with additional testimony by witnesses for Carroll.