Thread by @innercitypress

OK - now Carroll v. Trump charging conference. Trump did not file by Sunday 5 pm to testify but Inner City Press did file, for access to all defense exhibits matthewrussellleeicp.substack.com/p/after-press-… Inner City Press will live tweet, thread below

All rise!
Judge Kaplan: OK, jury charge.
Objection is made, and sustained, to inclusion of phrase about "ejaculate." Then finance and, Trump
Trump's lawyer Brandt wants reference to financial capacity out.
Judge Kaplan: He called himself a "star." Overruled.

Brandt: The Law & Order episode should come in, as we briefed over the weekend.
Judge Kaplan: I read your briefing, Mr. Brandt, I know you didn't write it and won't get into who did. It took liberties with the record. During Mr. Tacopina's cross, I held a sidebar

Judge Kaplan: At the sidebar, Mr. Tacopina said, So we are offering that, not of the truth, but for her response. That is not mentioned in your brief - not for the truth of what was said, but only for Ms. Carroll's response to that email. We resumed testimony

Judge Kaplan: Then Mr. Tacopina showed Ms. Carroll the email chain, I guess it is called, two emails on one piece of paper. Mr. Tacopina said, I offer it as Defense Exh CK.
[Note: Inner City Press has requested, again, all defense exhibits: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Judge Kaplan: It would have been helpful if the plaintiff's brief had acknowledged that.
Carroll's lawyer: I think you meant, defendant, for the transcript.
Judge Kaplan: Yes. Another correction, I said Jonathan Swift several hundred years ago, it says "seven"

Judge Kaplan: My high school English teacher will be happy. This concludes the charging conference. Thank you for being prepared. I'll see you when we have the jury.
Thread will continue then. Running to other cases - watch this feed for the closing arguments.

They're back.
Judge Kaplan: Bring in the jury.
Jury entering!
Judge Kapan: I hope you enjoyed this beautiful weekend. We're going to hear closing arguments now. I anticipate two hours, the defendant a bit more, then a half hour rebuttal. We'll order lunch early

Judge Kaplan: Tomorrow morning I'll instruct you on the law, 50 minutes or an hour and ten minutes, something like that - they you'll get the case. It remains important you have no contact with the press or social media. Ms. Kaplan?

Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan: I want to begin with what Mr. Tacopina said, No one is above [or below] the law. Your job is to uphold that. Did you notice what Mr Trump said on Truth Social on Exh 4? He insulted the justice system.
[Here is PX 4 - still no DXs]

Counsel: You haven't heard much from Donald Trump in this trial. He said, She is not my type. He repeated that in his deposition. But when showed the photo DJT 23
[deposition played - Inner City Press filed to get released, now here:

Counsel: He pointed at Ms. Carroll and said That's Marla, my wife. This is a photo of E. Jean Carroll. Their hairdo was the same. She was exactly his type. He made up an excuse. He said it was blurry. It is not blurry

Now Access Hollywood tape played: Grab them by the p*ssy.
Counsel: You heard Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff say he did just that to them. With Ms Carroll he, in his words, grabbed him by the p*ssy.
[Now deposition about history of a star can do anything played

Counsel: He said it was fortunate that stars like him can get away with it. We had 11 witnesses. On the other side? Only Donald Trump. He didn't even bother to show up here in person. It's not he said, she said. It's what Trump said versus all other witnesses

Counsel: Donald Trump in this trial is a witness against himself. Let me give you an example - the doors of the dressing rooms at Bergdorf Goodman were not, as the defense claims, always locked
[Note: Inner City Press went to Bergdorf, video later with booklet]

Counsel: Mr. Carroll can't specify the date, but she has all the details. She drove to 58th and 5th Avenue. She entered on the 58th Street entrance. Through that door she saw Donald Trump. They recognized each other. He was fairly well known.

Counsel: Trump called E. Jean Carroll, That advice lady. Donald Trump loves to watch TV. He saw her on TV. He knew her through Roger Ailes. Mr. Trump went to the New Jersey TV studio where Ms. Carroll taped her show

Counsel: This was before streaming and YouTube. You put the channel on. You might see a few minutes of the previous show. For Donald Trump to see himself on Roger Ailes' show, he may have seen the end of E. Jean Carroll's show

[Now playing Trump depo where he says he only very rarely went to Bergdorf Goodman. ]
Counsel: But we had a Bergdorf employee saying he saw Donald Trump there. It was across the street from Trump Power.
[Note: here's recently the impersonator Carroll paid $5 to

Counsel: You heard how the escalators in Bergdorf Goodman are walled, you can't see out to the floor
[Note - still the case today - Inner City Press checked, for the forthcoming booklet, photo below

Counsel: This was a combination of humor and flirting. It was a joke. Like when Ms. Carroll was a writer for SNL. Tragically things took a dark turn. Into the dressing room, the door locked. She asked herself why she went in. She feels embarrassed and stupid

Counsel: At that time Donald Trump was known as a playboy, a man about town, not a predator. But he pounced. She pushed back. She weighed 120 pounds, he at least 100 pounds more. She tried to hit him with her purse. Trump pinned her and pulled down her tights

Counsel: Trump grabbed her by the p*ssy or v*gina, I apologize for my language. Then he put his p*nis in. Afterward she told Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin. Lisa told you E. Jean was hyperventilating.

Counsel: Both Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin told you they believed her and believe her to this day. E. Jean Carroll has not had a relationship since. No walking the dog together. No one to watch TV with. The public E. Jean did not show this pain.

Counsel: E. Jean Carroll went on a roadtrip; news broke about Harvey Weinstein. She conducted interviews. It was weeks before she decided to include Donald Trump in her book. An excerpt was published in New York Magazine. Trump did more than deny it.

Counsel: Trump attacked her from the White House, calling her a liar. She lost her job at Elle and the trust of her readers. She started sleeping with a loaded gun in her bed. She filed a lawsuit. But that did not stop him. In October 2022, Mr. Trump 2bled down

Counsel: You heard from expert Leslie Lebowitz that people remember traumatic events in strange ways - some details and not others. She told you Ms. Carroll suffered self-blame.

Counsel: Mr. Tapopina tried to imply there is something wrong with Ms. Carroll having tried to continue on to have a happy life, to open her Substack. Why is Mr. Trump trying to blame Ms. Carroll for these things? He argues that a victim must act like a victim.

Counsel: Trump in his deposition claimed that Ms. Carroll love it, said she told Anderson Cooper it was sexy.
[Deposition played.]
Counsel: E. Jean actually said that's how rape is portrayed in popular culture, in Game of Throne for example.

Counsel: The witnesses here have not hatched any conspiracy. If there was a conspiracy, why would Carol Martin criticize E. Jean Carroll, in writing, to a friend? You heard Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff. Leed was assaulted on an airplane. She told no one

Counsel: In 2016, Leeds saw Trump running for president, deny he assaulted women. Stoynoff, in December 2005 had been in Mar-a-Lago. Trump used his M.O., closed the door and pinned her against the wall. The pattern is clear

Counsel: Trump says he didn't shop at Bergdorf. That was a lie. He said he didn't meet Ms. Carroll. That was a lie. He said she was not his type - but confused her with Marla Maples. He lied and said the professionally taken photo was blurry. He lied about Ailes

Counsel: He had appeared with Ailes on TV, already friends in 1995. Donald Trump is lying... Tomorrow morning Judge Kaplan will tell you about the law. He told you this is not a criminal case. It is a civil case. If he's liable, he's not going to jail.

Counsel: The law allows you to compensate E. Jean Carroll. I'm not going to tell you how much. On behalf of our team and E. Jean Carroll, thank you.
Judge Kaplan: Can I see Ms. Kaplan and Mr. Tacopina at the sidebar?
[Whispered sidebar]

Judge Kaplan: Jurors, you can start lunch now. We'll resume at noon with defense closing.
Thread will resume them- going to other cases, after this (troubling) scoop: Oral Sex in 26 Federal Plaza innercitypress.com/sdny447fifthaa… More on @SubstackInc matthewrussellleeicp.substack.com/publish/post/1…

They're back.
Carroll's lawyer: We've reviewed the slides for Mr. Tacopina's closing and there's a slide about Mr. George Conway --
Tacopina: While you're waiting for the slide, could I say something?
Judge Kaplan: I'd rather see the slide first.

Tacopina: I do not intend to argue that Ms. Kaplan is part of a Democratic conspiracy. I simply want to say that Mr. Conway introduced Ms. Carroll to an attorney.
Carroll's counsel: It's obvious we're the counsel.
Tacopina: We'll take the slide out.

Judge Kaplan: So much for the 45 minute lunch break. Get the jury.
Jury entering!
Judge Kaplan: Mr Tacopina?
Tacopina: The last hour and a half was hard for me to listen, for me. Ms Kaplan is a fine lawyer. But she took liberties. We'll take a journey to justice

Tacopina: People have passionate feeling about Donald Trump, either way. But the court is not the place to express it - that's for the ballot box. No one's below the law. If you apply the law to the facts justice will be served - quickly. Quickly.

Tacopina: Ms. Carroll has abused the system. She brought a case for money, and victimized real rape victims, exploiting their pain and suffering. We cannot let her profit from her abuse of this process. I'm going to pull it all together

Tacopina: Ms. Kaplan said *maybe* Mr. Trump met Ms. Carroll at a TV studio in New Jersey... Or he saw a re-run. Maybe the door was open. I'm going to play you his denial:
[Deposition, Trump: It didn't happen. If it had, it would have been reported with minutes

Tacopina: Let's put up Plaintiff's Exhibit 12
[That exhibit, released after Press request, is below - none of the defense exhibits have been released, nor withholding argued for by the May 6 deadline

Tacopina: How do you prove a negative? If Donald Trump had come, what could I have asked him? About some unknown date? This is a civil case. They could have called Donald Trump. But they didn't. They just want you to hate him enough

Tacopina: Why did they call Cande Carroll - to say, Dad told us to smile? It was all meant to distract you from E. Jean Carroll's story. Those other women have nothing to do it. They have no legal claim for you to decide. Ms Leeds says she was assaulted on a plane

Tacopina: Ms. Leeds says she didn't tell her boss because she didn't want to complain about the rigors of travel. Are you kidding me? She says Donald Trump called her "the c*nt from the airplane," in front of his wife. She was enraged in front of her TV

Tacopina: Ms. Stoynoff, I did ask her, Do you have anything for this jury to decide? How many times did they play the Access Hollywood tape - five? Donald Trump said women LET you do it. Yes it was crude. He apologized for it in the debate with Hillary Clinton

Tacopina: They are using the Art of Distraction. They are trying to take parts of Donald Trump you hate and stretch them over her story. If this weren't about Trump, we wouldn't be here today. No way.

Tacopina: Here's the email about the Law & Order episode. What does Ms. Carroll say? That this kind of thing happens all the time. All the time? Rape in a lingerie changing room in Bergdorf Goodman? Give me a break.

Carroll's lawyer: Objection. Your Honor, you issued an order about this very issue, yesterday I think -
Judge Kaplan: Yesterday?
Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan: I apologize, we wrote about it yesterday.
x

Judge Kaplan: The email about the alleged Law & Order episode was received only for your ability to assess Ms. Carroll's response to the email.
Tacopina: OK. The whole story is an unbelievable work of fiction. Ms. Carroll used that word, Unbelievable.

Tacopina: According to Ms. Carroll, the sixth floor of Bergdorf Goodman was like The Walking Dead, the tv show. No one there at all... I come from regular stock, it offended me when they said sales clerks cannot be trusted to follow the rules.

Tacopina: Ms. Carroll had to reverse engineer her story. Then there's the physical attack she alleges. How does Mr. Trump unzip while she is hitting him with her bag, in four inch heels? So they have a hired gun, Doctor Lebowitz, $650 an hour. She was not credible

Tacopina: Then there's the camp counselor. Dr. Lebowitz has no independent knowledge. Just a hired gun. Garbage in, garbage out. Ms. Carroll never told Dr Lebowitz her editor at Elle loathed her for selling her excerpt to NY Mad, not them.

Tacopina: Ms. Caroline didn't tell Dr Lebowitz she was a "massive fan," her words, of The Apprentice. Dr Lebowitz gave the example of a Vietnam vet who had a reaction to the smell of Vietnamese food. Ms. Carroll, no response. She watches the Apprentice.

Tacopina: I asked her, Did you joke around about having sex for money with Donald Trump? She answered yes, on Facebook. Here is Defense Exhibit CU - note: not a single Defense Exhibit has been made available, not argument offered storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Tacopina: Ms. Carroll wrote under her Facebook post, DX CU, Not taking off the orange jumpsuit until Weinstein, Spacey and certain other hideous men are in jail. Here is Defense Exhibit AW [Carroll about women down on the border getting raped around the clock.]

Tacopina: There was no border crisis in the mid 1990s. You know why she didn't go the police? Because they would have investigated. A civil case is easy. There's no investigation. Here, there's no diary entry. She said, She only writes about ball to the dog

Tacopina: This was about selling her book. She claimed she didn't know what a signing bonus was- that was just wrong. She swore to tell you the truth, and didn't. She had a watch party for her lawsuit, like it was the NFL draft. She said status is important to her

Tacopina plays the Anderson Cooper interview, to "we have to take a break" and "You're fascinating to talk to," then tells jurors, You decide what that means. In this case, most of her crying was on direct examination

Tacopina: i"m the father of two daughters. I would never tell a rape victim what she should do - it's that she asked herself that question, about not screaming. She became a star. After the CNN interview she told friends that was having a wonderful time.

Tacopina: She said she got her revenge on Elle with her Substack, she said "I'm back, so long Elle." Let's consider their reputational harm expert, not that she matters. She didn't even weigh Ms. Carroll's work on her own reputation. She had a political motivation

Tacopina: They took this out of her book, because it went too far: He's trying to kill me and poison my air. I asked her, Did you write that in your initial draft? It showed the political bias. She wrote, Why isn't a rape allegation worthy of impeachment?

Tacopina: Ms. Birnback told you she thinks Donald Trump for what he has done politically should be held accountable. So she's tried to hold him accountable, E. Jean Carroll's given her the opportunity. Carol Martin said she wasn't even asked to remain silent.

Tacopina: Here's another exhibit-
[Shows it on screen, has not released or tried to justify]
about "Matthew Craig referred me to a lawyer called Noam" [Biale] and that they have to get together." Then they are watching Trump be elected, no mention of Trump & rape

Tacopina: Lisa Birnbach said she needed Ms Carroll's permission to think about it- is it believable? Then there's the envelopes with the blue ribbons. Ms. Birnbach said she didn't open or read it because it sounded heavy. And she's a writer. Does that make sense?

Tacopina: So the NYT reporter Megan Twohey is going to interview the two - Ms. Carroll tells them to say they never read the chapter, because it might seem they got the story FROM the chapter. Ms. Carroll was lying to you about this too

Tacopina: They were just work friends until the book came out. But we're supposed to believe that Ms. Carroll called Lisa Birnbach and essentially dictated the chapter from her book, with details like a revolving door and "you're the advice lady." Right.

Tacopina: Ms. Carroll never intended to sue until Mr Conway told her to seriously think of suing Donald Trump. First she told me, & you, no. But from her deposition, she said "Wherever I went, people said, Are you going to see him," I said no. Then George said...

Tacopina: Here is the scheming email [schemail?], about Nambia. I asked Ms. Carroll about this. She said she had no idea what it was about. But she remembers from 27 years ago revolving doors and hats. She says scheme means plan. No it doesn't.

Tacopina: Let's try using that in a sentence. Let's scheme to go get pizza. Let's scheme to go to the Yankee game. It doesn't work. OK. That's doesn't make sense.

Tacopina: Then when Ms. Martin knows they'll be subpoened she write, no more texts and chats until further notice. That's Cripp [cryp?] talk. That's not how people who have nothing to say talk. Now something lethal to them - a message, trying to thread the needle.

Tacopina: Carol Martin to her friend, about E. Jean Carroll: it's gone to another level, she's going to sue T, WTF, I can't relate to it.
[Pause]
Tacopina: That's it: game, set and match.

Tacopina: Ms Carroll made this up, from an episode of Law & Order. She brought Ms. Birnbach and Ms. Martin along. They got in too deep and couldn't get out. Folks, I'm coming to an end. Let me show you a chart, a timeline. Donald Trump is elected- then this story

Tacopina: Ms. Carroll goes on her trip, writes her book... Mid July 2019, George Conway suggests litigation--
Carroll's counsel: Objection!
Judge Kaplan: Sustained. The jury will disregard the sentence about Mr. Conway.
Tacopina: I only said-
Judge: I've ruled

Carroll's counsel: Take down the slide.
Tacopina: We've removed it.
Judge Kaplan: I want to see what was removed.
[Now slide back up, jumping to November 2019 lawsuit
Tacopina: Then Ms. Martin's message about WTF, then about getting together before her deposition

Tacopina: Let's go back to the beginning, 2012 Law and Order episode
Carroll's counsel: Objection!
Judge Kaplan: Sustained.
Tacopina: That's her testimony.
Judge Kaplan: That's your version.
Tacopina: I -
Judge Kaplan: One more word.
Tacopina: OK. No evidence

Tacopina: The political hatred, it was clear here. Rape WTF. Never referred to Donald Trump as a rapist --
Carroll's counsel: Objection!
Judge Kaplan: Sustained.
Tacopina: I'm sitting down. They have the burden and they can't carry it. Facts are stubborn things

Tacopina: E. Jean Carroll was not raped at Bergdorf Goodman. And we know reality from fiction. She is asking you to condemn another citizen as a rapist, the worst thing you could ever be called, on evidence that couldn't stand up in any credible fact investigation

Tacopina: This is an absolutely outrageous case. She had a political reason, she desired status & sucked her friends in. What about the rule of law? It's everything for us. On the facts, this is your courtroom. Just you. Not some journalist who comes in for a day

Carroll's lawyer: Objection!
Judge Kaplan: Basis?
Carroll's lawyer: Talking about journalists, not in evidence
Tacopina: I'm summing up. Have the courage to do what's right here. Thank you.
Judge Kaplan: Jurors, we'll take 20 minutes.
[To lawyers: "Remain"]

Jury leaves.
Judge Kaplan: For the draft transcript. Mr. Tacopina said, WTF, never said "Trump is a rapist" in messages -
a new slide was projected to the jury, a red line from the right to the left. That can't be in the transcript. I want it in the transcript

Judge Kaplan: I want the withdrawn slide in the transcript or record.
Carroll's counsel: We may want to amend the instruction based on what was said.
Tacopina: These slides were given to counsel with the exact things that were shown to the jurors. I respect you-

Judge Kaplan: The quote you took from the testimony omits the lines before that put it in a different light. What page of the transcript was it from?
Tacopina: 575.
Judge Kaplan: On 571, she said she was aware, she may have meant aware of the email, not episode

Roberta Kaplan: We had to look at the thumb drive, whatever you call it, so there was no waiver.
Break is taking - thread will continue after whatever is left of the 20 minute break before rebuttal

They're back.
Judge Kaplan: Let's get the jury.
Jury entering!
Judge Kaplan: Mr. Ferrara?
Carroll's lawyer Michael Ferrara: You heard Mr. Tacopina say, Who could you call as a witness? It's a little late, but... Donald Trump. He never looked you in the eye

Ferrara: Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin are journalists, their careers based on trust. The defense wants you to believe they lied. They did not. The defense wants you to believe that other bad things have happened to Ms. Carroll. That's true too.

Ferrara: Let's look at Ms. Martin's email, it's Plaintiff's Exhibit 122.
[Note: This was not among the exhibits plaintiff's counsel put on DropBox on May 5 - then didn't filed by May 6 at noon to justify withholding some exhibits storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Ferrara: You'll recall, Ms. Carroll published her account in 2019. Mr. Trump was elected after the Access Hollywood video. Why is this important? America voted for Trump despite hearing it. So what about the scheme? They are so stupid they need to steal from L&O?

Ferrara: Why would people turn over damning messages if they were willing to perjure themselves? So these prove nothing. Let's step back. The Trump team's theory is that three intelligent women based their scheme on an episode of TV that 6 million people have seen

Ferrara: They could have made up a more private place than a department store. They could have seen Ms. Carroll screamed. They didn't. This happened. If Trump claims he wasn't there, why ask why she didn't scream? The denials are lies.

Ferrara: If their defenses conflict with each other, it means they have no defense. We have carried our burden. If someone accused you of rape and you didn't do it, you're run to the courtroom. Mr Trump didn't come. Ms. Carroll was here everyday

Ferrara: Trump raped Ms. Carroll and didn't want to testify about it. Mr. Tacopina said Garbage in, Garbage out- but Dr Lebowitz, a specialist, *believed* Ms. Carroll. Page 896. On Mr Conway. Mr. Tapopina called him a Democratic party lawyer. But he's a Republican

Ferrara: Ms. Carroll said, it's not about money, it's about getting my name back. If she was all about the money, why would she tell you she wasn't? The defense says it's a lie they didn't read the book. But they were interviewed together

Ferrara: Let's talk about the Access Hollywood tape. I'm not going to play it again. But Trump never said it wasn't true. It was a confession. It was not just locker room talk. I've been in locker room and I've never heard about furniture shopping. Go to 25-T

Ferrara: Trump said, "I move on her like a B-I-T-C-H." Like in Bergdorf's, shopping. Grabs them by their genitals. That's not locker room talk, when Donald Trump says it. He did exactly that.

Ferrara: In their version a perfect rape victim burns whatever clothes they were working and never laughs again, never tries to hold their rapist accountable. It's the defense's out of date view, as wrong as it is offensive. 3 Trump victims told you the same thing

Ferrara: Trump needs you to believe all these people are liars. He needs to you to believe that he was lying on the Access Hollywood tape. There wasn't even a "He said." Find him liable. Thank you.
Judge Kaplan: 10 am tomorrow, instructions and you get the case

Judge Kaplan: Counsel, remain.
Jury leaves.
Judge Kaplan: Anything else from counsel? No? See you tomorrow.
Story soon - but what about the remaining withheld exhibits? storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…