Donald Trump Is No-Show at E. Jean Carroll Civil Case

Former US President Donald Trump has declined to appear in a civil trial where he was accused of raping an advice columnist, E. Jean Carroll, in 1996, Politico reports.

US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan had given him until Sunday at 5 pm to request to testify, but no request was submitted.

The accuser repeated the allegations made in her 2019 memoir during the two weeks of testimony in the Manhattan trial.

The jury also saw clips of Trump's filmed deposition from October, where he denied knowing E. Jean Carroll or committing rape on her.

Closing statements were given on Monday, and the jury began deliberations on Tuesday without Trump's testimony.

The prosecutors in the Donald Trump rape trial rested their case. Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, followed suit without calling any witnesses or requesting more time for Trump to decide on testifying.

E. Jean Carroll Civil Case

Former Elle writer E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against ex-President Donald Trump in the New York Supreme Court in 2019, Newsweek noted.

She accused him of defaming her by denying her allegation that he had sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump has consistently denied the accusation.

Meanwhile, regardless of the trial's outcome, Trump will not face imprisonment as it is a civil lawsuit rather than a criminal one. The trial began in April and involved claims of civil defamation and battery.

On the first day of the trial, Judge Lewis Kaplan cautioned Trump's attorney that the former president may have opened himself up to new legal liability through a recent social media post.

In the post on his Truth Social platform, Trump labeled Carroll's accusations a "SCAM" and called her attorney a "political operative." Trump also suggested that Carroll's clothing at the time of the alleged incident should be considered evidence.

Donald Trump Initially Claimed He'll Testify on the Case

Judge Kaplan granted Donald Trump until Sunday at 5 pm to file a motion to reopen the case so that he might testify, Daily News said.

The judge's unexpected kindness stems from the fact that Trump, without telling his attorney, informed reporters last week that he had cut short his golfing trip in Ireland so that he could come back and attend the trial.

"I'm going back to New York. This woman falsely accused me. I have no idea who she is - it's ridiculous," Trump said Thursday from his golf course in Doonbeg, County Clare, adding he had to "go back and confront this woman."

Before putting her case to rest on Thursday, the former Elle advice writer and TV personality called 11 witnesses and showed audio of Trump making disparaging comments about her.

Donald Trump's legal team did not present a case because they told the court early last week that the psychiatrist, they planned to summon was sick and could not make it.

If the former president is judged to be at fault, he may have to pay Carroll up to $2.7 million in damages.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Trump deposition tapes in E. Jean Carroll case released - From MSNBC