MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin showed some of the clips of Donald Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll case and wondered how the jury might react in the trial based on what has been revealed from the tape.
"What do you make of that?" he asked former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne. "I mean, based on what you've seen from that day, those three clips we've played for you, the inability to recognize his ex-wife, the stupidity of the second comment about stars have been doing it for a million years, and then that bit where his defense is 'you're not my type,' and attacking the attorney there. Did Trump seemingly make the right decision not to take the stand?"
Alksne laughed: "Yes! That's for sure. But let's remember this when he takes the stand of that deposition; he's talking to the jury. And what we know from the first point, not only does he not identify Carroll, thinking she's Marla Maples, when he is confronted with that, and leaving aside his lawyers' improper coaching of him, when he is confronted with it."
The reference she is making is a moment in the deposition in which Trump is asked about a photo of E. Jean Carroll in which he mistakes her for his second wife.
"It's Marla," Trump says, pointing to the photo. "That's Marla, yeah. That's my wife."
They looked at who Trump was pointing to, and it was Carroll.
"The woman you just pointed to is E. Jean Carroll. And the woman on the right is your wife, Marla," Trump's lawyer coached off camera.
"And when he is cornered like a rat, what does he do?" Alksne continued. "What does he say? He lies. He says, 'Oh, it's blurry.' And here's why that's important: that's because the jury has the photograph. And they know when he is cornered, he lies. Because he lied to them, that's what the deposition is. It's him talking to the jury. And in this case, not only did he not have the guts to come talk to them, he didn't even have the guts to come sit in the courtroom. Instead, he sent a bully to cross-examine this woman. And on the one occasion he was talking to them and was cornered, he lied to them. And I think it's important, and my guess is, in closing, it is highlighted."
Legal analyst Lisa Rubin has sat in on the trial since the start. Speaking on the panel, she recalled, "You could hear a pin drop during that deposition" when it was shown in court.
"And he did not just lie about the photograph being blurry," Rubin explained. "And by the way, the jury has seen that photograph multiple times throughout the trial. I can even tell you what plaintiff's exhibit number it is: it's 1:12. But you could hear a pin drop because he didn't just lie about that. He lied about all sorts of things, big and small, including whether or not he cheated on his first wife, Ivana Trump, when he was seeing Marla Maples. He claimed not to know whether those relationships overlap. He was seen escorting Marla Maples as early as 1989. He wasn't divorced from Ivana Trump until 1992. He couldn't even give [Carroll lawyer] Robbie Kaplan, the lawyer, the dates he was married to Marla Maples. He just continued a pattern of mendacity all throughout that deposition, that the jury is really going to have to think about in confronting whether or not this is a person about whom E. Jean Carroll was telling the truth."
See the full conversation below or at the link here.