Trump doubled down on a loser in the E. Jean Carrolls rape case

[ad_1]

This week, Donald Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg offer us a tale of two citizens and the law. Bragg skillfully played a losing legal hand. Have a joke? Not so much.

Let’s start there. In a Manhattan federal courtroom, E. Jean Carroll sued the former president for allegedly raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s. Defendant Trump did not appear, as he told us he would not.

His alleged excuse? Concern for the “financial and logistical burdens” his appearance will impose in New York!

You can be forgiven for being skeptical. Trump is not historically known as a person who has been a guide of concern to others.

If you’re looking for the real reason, Trump shies away from being associated with anything that might tag him as a loser. Recall how he “didn’t know” 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort” or adviser George Papadopoulos when they were convicted of crimes.

Here, Trump has reason to fear that he is on the short end of the verdict in Carroll’s case. This is a civil case, so he just has to make the jury believe that his accusation is more likely than not to be true.

Carroll took the stand Wednesday and testified that she brought the lawsuit “because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and ruined my reputation, and I’m here to get my life is back.”

She also testified that when the attack happened, she fought back, but “he pushed me back against the wall, hitting my head.”

Trump’s apparent defense turns to his delay in reporting the alleged assault, but it has a big problem. At the time of the alleged rape, she apparently told two friends about it, and they would be witnesses. So are two other women who are expected to testify that Trump sexually assaulted them.

Not only that, but the judge ruled that his lawyers could introduce the “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump said that if you’re a celebrity, you can do anything to women, even “grab ’em by the p***y.”

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Move over, Harvey Weinstein. In fact, the women fighting the disgraced producer, Carroll testified Thursday, inspired her to finally come out against Trump.

Trump’s calculation is not hard to figure out. If there’s a big risk he’ll lose, why worry about hurting his chances because jurors don’t want defendants who don’t care to show up? He always gets his narrative of being the victim of a “nigged jury” out.

He told us by posting on Wednesday on social media that the case is a “made up SCAM” and a “Witch-Hunt.”

He followed up with another post on Thursday: “Does anyone believe I would take an almost 60-year-old woman I don’t know, from the door of an over-the-top department store” to “a small dressing room?”

It is clear that he prefers to argue his case in his base at Truth Social, where he cannot be cross-examined, than to be part of a courthouse search for the truth that he may lose. All he cares about is winning the GOP presidential nomination.

Pressing his “witch-hunt” message is working in the MAGA-world, though not with federal Judge Lewis Kaplan. On Thursday, the judge issued a second warning to Trump, suggesting that he is now “sailing in harm’s way” with his media posts that smack of “meddling” with the jury sitting in his case. (Kaplan used that word eerily in his first warning on Wednesday.)

But there was something more mysterious on Trump’s part. Trump may do well in the Republican primary, but that’s where he loses focus. Being judged as a rapist won’t help him with suburban moms and independents in general.

***

Smart players take another tactic they cut their losses. Consider Alvin Bragg. On April 19, New York federal district Judge Mary Vyscosil ruled against Bragg in his lawsuit to stop the Jim Jordan House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena to former Bragg Deputy DA Mark Pomerantz.

Judge Vyscosil ordered Pomerantz to testify, but said he could object to each question and would litigate any disputes about whether he should answer. Bragg appealed and won a temporary stay on the order.

With that short-lived victory in hand, Bragg quickly straightened up instead of going to the mat in a difficult appeal. His office said the stay provided time “to reach out to the House Judiciary Committee on an agreement that protects the District Attorney’s privileges and interests.” Bragg was not about to let goeth’s pride fall before the appeal.

On the contrary, in his lost cause, instead of settling Carroll’s suit, Trump seems perfectly content to play on his pride and let the chips fall where they may, including in the hands of President Joe Biden and in Jean Carroll’s wallet.

Read more

about the Trump trial

[ad_2]