Trump attorney blames victim in closing: Carroll 'abused system' and didn't suffer 'real rape'

Donald Trump's defense attorney, Joe Tacopina, struggled to defend his client in the closing statements of a civil rape trial.

At a court hearing on Monday, Tacopina closed by telling the jury he could not prove Trump did not rape writer E. Jean Carroll.

"Ms. Carroll has abused the system," Tacopina said, according to Inner City Press correspondent Mathew Russell Lee. "She brought a case for money, and victimized real rape victims, exploiting their pain and suffering. We cannot let her profit from her abuse of this process."

"How do you prove a negative?" he complained. "If Donald Trump had come [to testify], what could I have asked him? About some unknown date? This is a civil case. They could have called Donald Trump. But they didn't. They just want you to hate him enough."

Trump recently vowed to "confront" Carroll but later declined an opportunity to testify.