First day of Trump's defamation trial incorporates mocking abuse of E. Jean Carroll
Former president Donald Trump's attorneys made the first day of the civil trial over rape allegations he's facing from writer E. Jean Carroll a familiar sight in Trump world, as the purported victim was mocked and insulted for her story.
Trump wasn't present for the first day, and hasn't committed either way on whether or not he will testify, but his lawyers made it clear that they were going to run a scorched-earth trial play. Both sides signaled they were in for a "brutal fight," Mother Jones reported.
"Carroll’s attorneys told jurors they would have witnesses—Carroll herself and two other women with similar stories—testify in graphic detail about how Trump forcefully assaulted them, following a playbook he laid out in the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which he bragged he liked to 'Grab ’em by the p----. You can do anything,'” Mother Jones reported Tuesday. "But Trump’s attorneys laid the groundwork for a scathing attack of Carroll, mocking her story and sneering at details, saying she had made up the encounter with Trump because she wanted to be a celebrity."
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At the head of that effort to mock Carroll's story was Trump attorney Joe Tacopina, the report says.
"Mostly, though, Tacopina spent his time at the lectern mocking Carroll’s story. In a thick Brooklyn accent, Tacopina spoke casually, sounding more like a sports-radio caller, sneering and laughing at the idea Carroll was telling the truth. Tacopina repeatedly returned to the fact that Carroll says she doesn’t remember the exact date of the alleged assault, except that she believed it was a Thursday in 1995 or 1996 and in the early evening," according to the outlet.
Tacopina reportedly also mocked that Carroll never reported the assault to the police. She says she took a friend's advice not to report it, because Trump was powerful and could "bury" her with his lawyers.