The Manhattan district attorney is seeking to use Donald Trump's own testimony in a rape case against him in a trial on business fraud charges.
A federal judge will decide whether local prosecutors can obtain a video of the Oct. 19, 2022, deposition showing Trump shrugging off sexual misconduct by celebrities like himself, making misogynist remarks and remaining defiant about his predatory behavior, and that evidence stunned those in the courtroom in the sex abuse case involving E. Jean Carroll, reported The Daily Beast.
“Historically that’s true with stars," Trump testified, later clarifying that he considered himself one. "If you look over the last million years, that’s largely true, unfortunately — or fortunately."
District attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. is hoping to use the video to show how Trump “dealt with allegations of a sexual nature,” according to court records, and prosecutors claim his hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels were part of a "catch and kill" scheme intended to keep the public from learning about his alleged affair with her in the weeks ahead of the 2016 election.
Bragg's team subpoenaed the law firm that represents Carroll on May 15 seeking "the full transcript, full video recording, and all exhibits related to the videotaped deposition" of the former president, and Trump's lawyers moved two weeks later to block the subpoena on grounds they were trying to “fish for impeachment material."
New York Supreme Court judge Juan Merchan ruled on July 7 that the prosecutors' request was “not overbroad or otherwise inappropriate," but he asked for “clarification” from U.S. District judge Lewis Kaplan.
The district attorney's office also asked for a ruling from Kaplan, who has repeatedly made clear he's not related to Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan, and the federal judge gave Carroll and Trump until Wednesday to respond.
Watch the video below or at this link.
FULL VIDEO: Trump deposition in E. Jean Carroll rape trialwww.youtube.com
