In October 2022, former U.S. president Donald Trump was deposed in a defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. The legal battle, stemming from Carroll’s 2019 accusation that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, has continued to unfold through complex discovery disputes and evidentiary rulings.
The 2022 Deposition and Legal Claims
The legal conflict between Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll reached a significant procedural milestone on October 19, 2022, when the former president was deposed in Manhattan federal court. Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, first initiated the lawsuit in November 2019, five months after Trump publicly denied her rape allegation by stating she was not my type.
Trump’s defense, led by attorney Alina Habba, has consistently characterized the case as a politically motivated effort. Following the deposition, Habba stated, As we have said all along, my client was pleased to set the record straight today.
She further described the litigation as nothing more than a political ploy like many others in the long list of witch hunts against Donald Trump.
Throughout the proceedings, Trump has maintained that Carroll concocted the story to sell her book, while Carroll has stated her decision to come forward was driven by her experiences answering readers’ questions about abuse in her column.
Discovery Disputes and DNA Evidence
Judge Kaplan dismissed the offer on February 15, 2023, labeling it an out-of-line delay tactic.
Kaplan noted that the presence of Trump’s DNA would not conclusively prove a rape occurred, as no sperm was detected on the material in question. By late March 2023, the court prohibited any mention of DNA evidence at trial.
Admissibility of the Access Hollywood Tape
A significant portion of the pre-trial arguments focused on whether past allegations and recordings could be used to establish a pattern of behavior. Trump’s lawyers sought to bar the Access Hollywood tape, as well as allegations from other women, specifically Leeds and Stoynoff. Carroll’s counsel argued that these accounts demonstrated a consistent pattern
of sexual misconduct.
Ultimately, Judge Kaplan ruled in March 2023 that the tape and testimony from the two women would be admissible for the second lawsuit, alongside testimony from two Bergdorf Goodman employees. Kaplan also rejected a purported rebuttal damage expert
presented by Trump, ruling he did not qualify as an expert witness.
Judicial Security and Anonymous Juries
Concerns over the safety of the judicial process led Judge Kaplan to implement strict measures regarding the jury. In March 2023, the judge ruled that the jury would remain anonymous, citing Trump’s incendiary rhetoric
against officials. By April 10, 2023, the scope of this anonymity was expanded to include the lawyers involved in the case, a decision Kaplan justified by referencing threats directed at Judge Juan Merchan, who was overseeing a separate criminal investigation involving The Trump Organization.
While the legal maneuvering regarding the defamation claims and the admissibility of evidence has occupied the court, the underlying allegations remain the core of the dispute. As the litigation continues, the question remains how the court will balance Trump’s claims of presidential immunity—argued during his attempts to delay the 2022 deposition—against the persistent accusations of battery and defamation that have shaped this years-long legal saga.
