Judge gives Manhattan DA Trump’s E. Jean Carroll deposition: report

03 August 2023

United States District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York ruled on Thursday that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. can obtain former President Donald Trump's deposition from the E. Jean Carroll defamation and sexual assault case that he lost in May.

Bragg seeks to use Trump's statement as evidence in his office's criminal investigation into whether the Trump Organization's business records were falsified to cover up affairs that Trump allegedly had with other women.

Bragg's "prosecutors have been trying to get their hands on a taped deposition in which Trump actually said stars like him get away with sexual harassment 'unfortunately—or fortunately,'" reports The Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery.

"In state court documents, prosecutors reasoned that his insulting responses about sexual misconduct allegations history is relevant to his alleged criminal scheme of paying off people to keep women silent to avoid public embarrassment," Pagliery explained. "But Trump's lawyers tried to block that move, arguing that particular evidence at his rape trial was actually meant to stay secret under a protective order. New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan asked the federal judge who oversaw the rape trial to weigh in."

Although Kaplan "disagreed" with Trumpworld's arguments and "gave Carroll's lawyers permission to hand it over," Pagliery notes that New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan will ultimately decide whether the recording is admissible in Trump's March 2024 criminal trial.

Merchan will also determine "if Trump's comments about women and sexual relations are relevant to the criminal case about his false business records and sexual affair coverups," Pagliery adds.

"While the cases are entirely separate, the courtroom scrimmaging shows how the former president is drowning in so many legal headaches that they're starting to overlap," writes Pagliery, "It's unclear how exactly Manhattan prosecutors working on the fake business records case will use Trump's rape trial testimony, which shows him being unapologetic about sexual assault and resorting to misogynistic jabs at the lawyer questioning him."

Pagliery's full article is available at this link (subscription required).

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