Trump offers DNA sample in rape case — but legal experts think he's 'playing a game'

Former President Donald Trump says he'll provide a DNA sample to defend himself against a rape claim by E. Jean Carroll, but legal experts are dubious the offer is genuine.

The advice columnist still has a black coat dress that she claims she was wearing during the alleged sexual assault in the mid-1990s, which could still have DNA evidence, and Trump finally agreed last week that he would at some point allow his lawyers to collect a sample for comparison, reported The Daily Beast.

“It sounds like a continuation of the dilatory tactics that Trump uses all the time,” said Albert Scherr, a University of New Hampshire law school professor and a leading expert on forensic DNA evidence. “As a general rule, Trump's lawyers in every venue have the strong propensity to delay and delay and muck things up.”

A source told the website that Trump's team hasn't yet made the offer to Carroll's attorneys, and legal experts suspect it's not genuine because the deadline for opposing sides to exchange evidence has already passed, but now his lawyers can tell jurors the DNA was offered but not tested.

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“It's referred to as ‘consciousness of liability evidence,'" said Edward J. Imwinkelried, a retired law professor at University of California, Davis. "You can draw an adverse inference from the fact that someone refused to participate in relevant scientific testing."

Even if the former president sent his DNA to the lab for testing, the results wouldn't be admissible at trial unless the judge reopens discovery, which would delay the trial, and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan this week told Trump's lawyers the case was moving forward on schedule to a trial starting April 25.

“What’s going on now behind the scenes is that each side is seeing how to posture themselves to take advantage of this,” Scherr said. “It was convenient for Carroll’s side to stop asking for his DNA … and Trump’s lawyers may be playing a game, too."