Donald Trump’s shocking deposition from a rape trial can be used as evidence in his business fraud hearing in New York.
A federal judge ruled in favor of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. and will allow prosecutors to obtain a copy of the recorded deposition Trump gave Oct. 19, 2022, when he shrugged off sexual misconduct by celebrities like himself, made misogynist remarks and remained defiant about his predatory behavior, reported The Daily Beast.
Trump was ultimately found liable in that case for sexually abusing journalist E. Jean Carroll, and Manhattan prosecutors want to use the video to show how Trump “dealt with allegations of a sexual nature,” according to court records.
Prosecutors claim his hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels were part of a “catch and kill” scheme intended to keep the public from learning about his alleged affair with her in the weeks ahead of the 2016 election.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan allows prosecutors to get the tape, but New York Supreme Court judge Juan Merchan will later decide whether they can present that evidence during the trial.
Trump’s lawyers had sought to block prosecutors from obtaining the video, arguing that evidence was supposed to remain under a protective order, but Merchan asked Kaplan, who had presided over the rape trial, to weigh in.
