(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Former President Donald Trump has alleged that he had been “unconstitutional(ly)” silenced in the civil trial relating to author E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against him. The trial concluded on Tuesday with a jury determining that Trump had sexually assaulted and defamed her, but not finding that he had raped her.
In a Truth Social Post only hours before the verdict, Trump argued that he was not allowed to “speak or defend” himself in this trial despite being a “current political candidate.” He added that at the same time, the other side had been “falsely accusing” him of rape and collaborating with the press. He proceeded to state that for that reason he was not going to be saying anything until after the outcome was announced.
Judge Lewis Kaplan had previously warned the former president against making public comments about the trial. A court filing by Carroll’s lawyers further pointed out their concerns about Trump continuing to use in his public statements “evidence” that was deemed to be “inadmissible at trial.” The letter was sent by Carroll’s legal team to Kaplan earlier this month, and in it, they detailed their concerns over Trump’s Truth Social posts during the start of the trial.
In a separate post that Carroll’s legal team addressed, Trump had questioned whether anyone believed that he would have taken a “then 60 year old woman” through a department store and raped her.
Despite Trump’s claims he was given the opportunity by Kaplan to provide his testimony before the jury, however, this was something that Trump chose not to do. The court further provided Trump three days in which he could file to reopen the case so that he could provide his testimony, but again Trump did not choose to do so.
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