- Manhattan prosecutors have subpoenaed all 209 pages of Trump’s deposition in the E. Jean Carroll rape case.
- In the deposition, Trump describes the Access Hollywood tape dropping just days before the 2016 election.
- His reaction to election-eve sexual misconduct allegations is key to the DA’s hush-money case, a new filing argues.
Donald Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood tape, key to last month’s E. Jean Carroll defamation verdict, now plays a starring role in the former president’s Manhattan hush-money case, a new prosecution filing shows.
Prosecutors say the tape “features prominently” in their case, which alleges that Trump falsified business documents to hide a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
The payment to Daniels came just days before the 2016 election, when Trump’s campaign was already reeling from the just-revealed tape, on which he boasts of grabbing women by their genitals.
Trump’s deposition in the Carroll case fills 209 pages of transcript, only 98 pages of which have been made public.
In their new filing, prosecutors defend a subpoena, sent to Carroll’s attorneys, that seeks the entirety of the deposition transcript and video, countering Trump’s effort to quash it.
The transcript pages already made public through the Carroll case “reveal that a number of the subject matters about which defendant testified under oath relate to facts at issue in this case and are therefore relevant and material to this proceeding,” the filing says in asking for the whole deposition.
“For example, defendant testified during his deposition about his statements captured on what is known as the Access Hollywood tape,” the filing says.
“The Access Hollywood tape, released publicly in October 2016 during the course of defendant’s campaign for President, features prominently in the People’s case,” the filing says.
“Defendant also testified about addressing during his campaign events in October 2016 allegations of sexual misconduct by two other women,” Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds, who both testified in the Carroll defamation trial.
“The way in which defendant dealt with allegations of a sexual nature by women in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election is clearly relevant to the allegations in the People’s case,” the filing adds.
Prosecutors led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg say that in the waning days of the campaign, Trump and his staff were concerned that the Access Hollywood tape would harm his viability as a candidate, especially among women voters.
It was shortly after the tape was made public that the plot to pay off Daniels was hatched. The money kept her from going public with her account of having slept with Trump back in 2006, when his son by Melania Trump was just four months old.
Trump has denied having sex with Daniels, and in April pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide the hush-money payment.
The case is due to go to trial on March 25, 2024.
American Dollar Exchange Rate