PanaTimes

Thursday, Mar 30, 2023

Trump rape case: Lawyer blasts the former president's offer to finally submit DNA as a 'bad faith' delay tactic

Trump rape case: Lawyer blasts the former president's offer to finally submit DNA as a 'bad faith' delay tactic

In new court papers, E. Jean Carroll's lawyer says Trump's offer to finally submit DNA weeks before trial is a "transparent" manipulation.

Former President Donald Trump has agreed to undergo DNA testing as part of his defense in an upcoming civil rape trial in New York federal court, but lawyers for his accuser say the offer is coming too late and is just another delay tactic.

Trump's sudden willingness to submit a DNA sample after discovery in the case has ended — and after three years of denying the request — was confirmed in court papers Friday. It was first reported by the Daily Beast.

"Mr. Trump is indeed willing to provide a DNA sample for the sole purpose of comparing it to the DNA found on the dress at issue," Trump attorney Joe Tacopina says in the filing.

But the former president is also demanding that his accuser first turn over the genome it would be compared to.

"Mr. Trump's DNA is either on the dress or it is not," and his accuser should be willing to come forward with her own evidence, the filing argues.

"'Why is Plaintiff now hiding from this reality?" the filing asks. "We surmise that the answer to that question is that she knows his DNA is not on the dress because the alleged sexual assault never occurred."

Lawyers for Trump's accuser, E. Jean Carroll, vehemently opposed the last-minute offer for a DNA swab in their response to Tacopina's letter on Friday.

Carroll's lawyers first requested Trump's DNA in January 2020 to compare against skin particles found on the dress she said she was wearing during the alleged assault. But Trump resisted for years. Her lawyers now say he shouldn't be allowed to suddenly change his mind ahead of trial.

"Trump may prefer to put off trial for another day, and he (and his new lawyers,) may regret decisions that he made earlier in this case, but that is no basis to again delay Carroll's day in court," one of Carroll's attorneys, Roberta Kaplan, wrote on Friday.

She also called the last-minute offer a "blatant effort to influence the jury pool" and "yet another bad faith and legally frivolous delay tactic."

It's unclear if the judge will allow the last-minute DNA sample. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan (no relation to Carroll's attorney) has already complained multiple times about Trump's side dragging the case out with delay after delay.

Kaplan, the attorney, explained in her response Friday that she and other attorneys for Carroll ultimately decided not to fight Trump over his DNA because they anticipated appeals that could slow down the process.

"Carroll, now 79 years old, has built her case with powerful additional evidence and is ready to prove Trump's liability before a jury; she should not be prejudiced by Trump's latest gambit to violate the Court's orders and uproot the trial date," her lawyer wrote.

Tacopina declined to comment on Friday's filing. Kaplan said the response "speaks for itself."

A photo from the lab report that Donald Trump rape accuser E. Jean Carroll submitted in January, 2020 as part of her defamation lawsuit against the former president.

Carroll alleges Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s.

She told two close friends about the alleged attack, but not the police.

"Women who have been raped are looked at in this society as less, are looked at as spoiled goods, are looked at as rather dumb," she explained of keeping quiet, recounting the attack in a sworn deposition for the case.

Carroll kept the dress she says she was wearing at the time. Nearly 30 years later, lab tests recovered the skin cells of a yet-unidentified male on its sleeves, she has said in court filings.

Her legal team, led by Kaplan, demanded a "buccal, blood or skin cell sample from Defendant sufficient for DNA analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress that Plaintiff wore during the sexual assault at issue in this action."

The former president declined for three years to submit a sample for testing.

But Trump, who recently took on Tacopina as new lead lawyer, appears to now be changing tack.

Letting Trump's DNA into the case would be an 11th-hour roll of the dice for both sides.

It's risky for Trump, who denies even knowing Carroll. And it's risky for Carroll, who has publicly touted the dress's importance and who, absent a Trump sample, would be able to ask jurors "What does Trump have to hide?"

"This sample could be the key to the case," said defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former chief assistant with the Manhattan district attorney's office.

"He's saying it never happened," said Friedman Agnifilo. "So if it is his DNA, a match would be so powerful to her case."

On the other hand, a "no match" result could cripple Carroll's side.

"She's come out and said, 'I saved the dress, I have a sample,' and so she's kind of stuck with that," Friedman Agnifilo said.

"The minute you introduce science into this and say 'I have evidence,' if the evidence isn't there it's hard to say 'you still have to believe me.' It becomes a harder mountain to climb," she added.

"I have the dress," Carroll had tweeted in 2021. "Trump is basically in deep shit."

"If it's not his DNA, or it's inconclusive because it's degraded, then it potentially could clear him," said Friedman Agnifilo.

"This could be Trump's version of 'If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.'"

Carroll, a longtime Elle advice columnist, says she kept the Donna Karan coat dress hanging in her closet for decades — and never wore it again until posing in it on the cover of New York magazine in June 2019, when she first went public with her rape accusation in an essay for the outlet.

A few months later, Carroll sued Trump for defamation when he loudly and repeatedly denied her story. Trump said she wasn't his type and claimed he had never even met her, despite photographic evidence to the contrary.

Carroll sued Trump again last year, for a new claim of defamation and for the alleged rape itself, after New York passed a law temporarily allowing the filing of sexual-assault lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations had expired.

Both lawsuits have April trial dates and may end up being combined and tried at the same time.

The judge has seemed intent on keeping to schedule. During a scheduling hearing in the case on Tuesday, Trump's lawyer asked for a six-week extension on Carroll's second lawsuit, but Kaplan only gave him one.
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanaTimes
Close
0:00
0:00
Don’t Dismiss China’s Peacemaking Bid
China and Brazil have signed a new deal that will allow them to trade in their own currencies, bypassing the US dollar as an intermediary
Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing ‘Profound Risks to Society’
Nashville style execution
“We've had evidence prior to the pandemic that masks were largely ineffective at preventing community transmission of influenza “
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz:
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz rejects being labeled a "billionaire"
Jamie Dimon is being deposed over JPMorgan Chase role in Epstein lawsuits
Brand new security footage has just been released to the public showing the Active shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale drove to Covenant Church School in her Honda Fit this morning, parked, and shot her way into the building
AMERICA, 2023
U.S. charges FTX's Bankman-Fried with paying $40 million bribe
Nashville Police release bodycam footage showing officers neutralizing trans shooter of Christian school
Fallen 'Crypto King' Who Owes Millions to Investors Was Kidnapped and Tortured
Regulators blame social media for SVB's rapid collapse: 'Complete game changer'
AOC explains why she opposes banning TikTok
Singapore’s Prime Minister says China and US need to stabilize relations because world can't afford a confict between the two superpowers
Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel Corporation, died at 94
Powell: Silicon Valley Bank was an 'outlier'
Bordeaux town hall set on fire in France pro democracy protest
Police violence in Paris
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
NYPD is setting up barricades outside Manhattan Criminal Court ahead of Trump arrest.
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
The US government has charged Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with leading a $1 billion fraud scheme that cheated thousands of followers out of their money.
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
"Will Fly Wherever International Law Allows": US Warns Russia After Drone Incident
If this was in Tehran, Moscow or Hong Kong
TRUMP: "Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent World War III."
Drew Barrymore
China is calling out the US, UK, and Australia on their submarine pact, claiming they are going further down a dangerous road
A brief banking situation report
Lady bites police officer and gets instantly reaction
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
Silicon Valley Bank exec was Lehman Brothers CFO
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
City officials in Berlin announced on Thursday that all swimmers at public pools will soon be allowed to swim topless
Fitness scam
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
Senator Tom Cotton: If the Mexican Government Won’t Stop Cartels from Killing Americans, Then U.S. Government Should
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
Silicon Valley Bank: Struggles Threaten Tech Startup Ecosystem"
Man’s penis amputated by mistake after he’s wrongly diagnosed with a tumour
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Is Gold the Ultimate Safe Haven Asset in Times of Uncertainty?
×