Donald Trump at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. White House Photo by Tia Dufour.
Donald Trump was asked, among other things, by his lawyer Alina Habba, "Did you ever instruct anyone to hurt Ms. Carroll."
Trump didn't answer the question — something at least one legal analyst finds telling.
Instead, Trump said, "I just wanted to defend myself, my family and, frankly, this presidency."
Former Southern District of New York prosecutor Kristy Greenberg pointed out that Trump didn't say "yes or no."
"That's the delta," she explained. "He knows when he makes these statements about E. Jean Carroll, he knows the influence that he has over his followers. It's similar to Jan. 6th, when he's putting out various messages about, 'Come. Let's be wild.' The idea that he would have no idea the influence he would have and what would happen, I mean, that's why Jack Smith has charged him with exploiting those messages and exploiting the violence that he knew would come. It's very similar here."
She recalled that throughout the trial the jury has been told about rape and death threats that were sent to Carroll after she accused him of raping her — before and after Trump defamed her by denying it.
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Trump has already been found liable of sexual abuse and defamation. The ongoing trial relates to separate defamatory comments he made about the same attack. The jury is considering damages as the judge has already ruled him liable.
"He knows the effect of his words," said Greenberg. "He knows when he keeps saying she's a liar, that he's never met her and she's this terrible person, he knows what will follow, and in fact, intends it. That was the argument from E. Jean Carroll's attorneys at the opening. He intended for this violence to happen. Once it became clear that these tweets were happening, at no point did Donald Trump say, 'Hey, cut it out. Don't threaten her life. Don't threaten to rape this woman.'"
Like with Jan. 6, Trump never told his supporters not to go on the attack, she said.
"So, the parallels are similar, and the fact that he did not answer that question, did you ever instruct anyone to hurt her, yes or no, just tells you that he really doesn't want to disclaim his influence from his supporters, because they're actually doing what he wants them to do," Greenberg closed.
See her comments in the video below or at the link here.
This is the question from Alina Habba that Trump never answered www.youtube.com
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