Rape Trial Judge Slaps Down Trump’s Bid to Bury ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape
A federal judge has ruled that notorious Access Hollywood tape, in which former President Donald Trump brags about groping women, can be admitted as evidence in the civil rape lawsuit brought against him by author E. Jean Carroll.
“In this case, a jury reasonably could find […] that Mr. Trump admitted in the Access Hollywood tape that he in fact has had contact with women’s genitalia in the past without their consent, or that he has attempted to do so,” wrote U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in his opinion.
Trump had previously attempted to block the tape’s admission into evidence, claiming his statements in the tape could be misrepresented to jurors as an admission that Trump committed an assault against Carroll. Kaplan, however, deferred to statutes that allow “evidence that the [defendant] committed any other sexual assault” to be admitted in “a civil case involving a claim for relief based on a party’s alleged sexual assault.”
Judge Kaplan also ruled that he will allow the introduction of Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds as witnesses in the trials. Both women came forward with accusations of assault against Trump in 2016. The former president has denied the accusations from all three women.
In 2019, Carroll accused Trump of having assaulted her in the dressing room of a department store in the ‘90s. Carroll wrote that Trump held her against the wall of the dressing room and forced her to engage in intercourse. Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit after Trump denied the allegation and called her claims a “hoax.” In Nov. 2019, following the passage of New York’s Adult Survivors Act, a separate suit was filed to bring charges of battery against the former president.
The defamation case now awaits a decision by D.C.’s appellate court to determine if the suit will be allowed to proceed. An initial trial date has been scheduled for late April. Judge Kaplan is also expected to make a decision regarding whether the trials will be combined.