Donald Trump isn’t someone who likes being told what to do, or a person who enjoys being held accountable for his actions. But none of that matters to Lewis A. Kaplan, the U.S. District Judge who has ordered the former president to sit for a deposition this Wednesday and answer questions under oath related to journalist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case.
While Trump would surely like nothing more than to see all remnants of his dealings with Carroll, who claims she was raped by Trump in the 1990s, go bye-bye, he’s not likely to get his wish. As Raw Story reports, former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman took to Twitter early Sunday morning to lay out the options standing before Trump at this moment. And — spoiler alert! — none of them are great.
While Trump could simply show up as told and answer questions truthfully under oath, that wouldn’t be very Trumpian of him. As Litman explains it, he really has five options:
He could show up and a) admit the rape after scores of public denials. That would be tantamount to a confession that he defamed her; b) insist he never did, setting up a he said she said credibility dispute before a New York jury that he’d likely lose; c) take the 5th but that would be admissible against him in the defamation suit, which is civil (absent some unusual New York doctrine I’m unaware of), or d) say he doesn’t recall, which would represent a distinct retreat from his public stance.
The judge in Jean Carroll’s case against Trump for defamation—growing out of his churlish denial that he raped her in the 1990s—has ordered him to sit for a deposition Wednesday. What are his options?
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) October 16, 2022
He could ask the Court for another delay, but pretty clear judge would say no. He could not show but pretty clear judge would hold him in contempt and even issue a warrant for his arrest.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) October 16, 2022
He could show up and a) admit the rape after scores of public denials. That would be tantamount to a confession that he defamed her; b) insist he never did, setting up a he said she said credibility dispute before a New York jury that he’d likely lose; c) take the 5th but that
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) October 16, 2022
Would be admissible against him in the defamation suit, which is civil (absent some unusual New York doctrine I’m unaware of), or d) say he doesn’t recall, which would represent a distinct retreat from his public stance.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) October 16, 2022
Finally, he could try to appeal, but he would need to show irreparable injury from the mere fact of having to show up and tell the truth, and after taking extensive discovery of her case. The resultant delay would likely be brief.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) October 16, 2022
Not a very good set of choices. Most likely outcome: appeal. Second most likely: I don’t recall. Third: take the 5th.
Drip, drip, drip.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) October 16, 2022
Trump’s fifth and final option would be to appeal, but Litman notes that that would bring with it the “need to show irreparable injury from the mere fact of having to show up and tell the truth.” And while it would entail a slight delay in the proceedings, it would likely be brief enough to not change much of what is going on behind the scenes. Still, Litman predicts that that will be Trump’s preferred move. Beyond that, going the “I don’t recall” route or pleading the Fifth might be his most likely choices, in that order.
Given that Carroll is going after Trump for defaming her — not for the rape itself, as the statute of limitations at the time the incident occurred in the ‘90s was five years — the former president didn’t do himself any favors by further branding her a liar when he was ordered to answer questions under oath. In a string of posts to his TRUTH Social media platform, Trump claimed:
“I don’t know this woman, have no idea who she is, other than it seems she got a picture of me many years ago, with her husband, shaking my hand on a reception line at a celebrity charity event… She completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store and, within minutes, ‘swooned’ her. It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.”
While public outbursts such as that one certainly are not helping Trump’s case, it’s at least slightly better than his original denial, where, instead of saying that he would never be party to such a vicious crime, he instead stated “She’s not my type” as the number one reason why Carroll was lying.
(Via Raw Story)