Trump denies rape allegation in video testimony played in court | Donald Trump news

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US jurors are hearing video testimony from the former president as the civil trial over the alleged rape continues in New York.

Donald Trump denied knowing E Jean Carroll, the writer who accused the former president of the United States of rape, as a New York City jury heard the second day of video testimony from Trump in the civil case.

Trumps video deposition was played for jurors Thursday in the civil trial in which Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, accused him of rape.

Carroll, 79, testified that the former president, 76, raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s, and then ruined her reputation and career by lying about it online.

In a video excerpt played Thursday, Trump was asked about a statement he made in 2019 about never having met Carroll.

He said it was true at the time but later he was shown a picture of him shaking his hand or his wife’s hand in a reception line at a celebrity event. I shook hands with people a lot but nothing I have no idea who he is, Trump said.

Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a New York department store in the 1990s [File: Seth Wenig/AP Photo]

Trump, who is currently the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination for president, has not yet attended the trial, which began last week in Manhattan federal court.

His legal team told US District Judge Lewis Kaplan that Trump will not testify in person and they will not call any witnesses.

But during a visit to a resort he owns in southwest Ireland, Trump told reporters he would likely attend.

I think it’s a shame that this is allowed to happen, false accusations against a rich man, or in my case against a famous, rich and political man, Trump told reporters as he played golf at the Doonbeg resort.

I have to go back for a woman who made a false accusation about me, and I have a judge who is very hostile, Trump added.

The trial is expected to last into next week. Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.

Carroll’s lawyers played about 30 minutes of excerpts from the former president’s deposition Wednesday, including his vehement denial of the rape accusation.

If it had happened, it would have been reported within minutes, Trump said, contending that shoppers and employees at the very busy store heard the commotion and alerted authorities.

This is the funniest, most disgusting story. It just did, Trump said in a video deposition taken in October.

Carroll said during three days of testimony and cross-examination that Trump slammed her against a wall in 1995 or 1996, inserted his fingers into her genitalia and then inserted her penis.

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