'Trump at his worst': Manhattan DA hopes to use 'shocking' closed-door deposition against him in criminal case

Editor's note: The headline quote was corrected to 'Trump at his worst.'

Before the summer is over, former President Donald Trump could be facing four criminal indictments. Trump, in addition to a 40-count criminal prosecution (increased from 37 counts in late July) by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and special counsel Jack Smith and a 34-count criminal prosecution by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. in New York State, is paying close attention to two separate criminal investigations of his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election: one being led by Smith, the other by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for the State of Georgia.

Trump's legal problems also include civil lawsuits. More than once, he has been sued for defamation by former Elle Magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll — who alleges that he tried to rape her in a Manhattan department store in 1996 (an allegation he has denied). Trump has never been charged with criminal sexual assault, although a jury awarded Carroll $5 million in one of her civil defamation lawsuits.

In a report published on August 1, the Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery explains why Carroll's civil lawsuits are relevant to Bragg's criminal prosecution. The Manhattan DA alleges that Trump falsified the Trump Organization's business records as part of hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

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Bragg, Pagliery reports, is "seeking to potentially weaponize the same piece of damning evidence that nailed the former president" in one of Carroll's defamation lawsuits: "the deposition where he said stars like him get away with sexual harassment 'unfortunately — or fortunately.'"

"It's now up to a federal judge to decide whether those prosecutors can get a video that shows Trump at his worst: unapologetic about sexual assault, uttering misogynistic comments, and willing to lie to the American public to save his own skin," Pagliery explains. "It's a testament to the breadth of Trump's legal problems that we're witnessing the collision of two totally separate cases: a civil defamation case about rape and a criminal case about a cover-up. And it all comes down to a closed-door question-and-answer session Trump had on October 19, 2022."

Pagliery continues, "That shocking testimony first came out in a federal courtroom in May in New York City, where jurors ultimately decided that Trump did indeed sexually abuse the journalist E. Jean Carroll decades ago. In the video, the former president talked about his previous gloating that he could grab women 'by the p****' — and answered whether he felt that the rich and famous could get away with it…. Now, the Manhattan DA wants that video for his own criminal investigation."

Trump's trial in Bragg's case is schedule to begin in March 2024 in New York City. His trial in Smith's 40-count Mar-a-Lago documents case, however, will be held in Florida.

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Pagliery notes that Bragg's office "subpoenaed the law firm that represents Carroll" on May 15. Trump's legal team has tried to block that subpoena, but on July 7, Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan C. Merchan ruled that the subpoena was "not overbroad or otherwise inappropriate."

"In recent months," Pagliery observes, "the (Manhattan) DA's case has gotten less attention than Trump's other bubbling legal problems. Shortly after he was indicted in New York City for faking business records, the Department of Justice formally charged him yet another cover-up — this time, over his hoarding of classified records without authorization at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in South Florida. As of this writing, Trump is expecting to be indicted two more times: in the District of Columbia over his role in the January 6 insurrection, and in Atlanta over his attempts to disrupt the 2020 election there."

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