May 2 (UPI) — Ending any speculation, lawyers for Donald Trump told a judge Tuesday the former president will not testify in his own defense during the civil battery and defamation lawsuit against him.
Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina confirmed to judge Lewis Kaplan his client will not attend the proceedings.
Lawyers for plaintiff E. Jean Carroll have previously said they have no plans to call Trump as a witness.
Carroll’s lawyers did say Tuesday they may show the jury portions of Trump’s video deposition.
Lawyers informed the judge of their intent after the jury had been dismissed for the day.
Earlier Tuesday, a second accuser and a friend of Carroll testified in her defense.
One witness said she received a call from Carroll minutes after she was allegedly raped by Trump in a New York department store in the 1990s.
The other witness said Trump groped her during a flight in 1979.
Carroll’s friend, author and journalist Lisa Birnbach, testified that she received a call from Carroll within “five to seven minutes” of the alleged rape inside a New York department store fitting room in the 1990s.
“I am here because my friend, my good friend, who was a good person, told me something terrible that happened to her and, as a result, she lost her employment and her life became very, very difficult,” Birnbach testified. “I want the world to know that she is telling the truth.”
“She told me that Donald Trump recognized her outside or right in the doorway of Bergdorf Goodman. He asked her to help him shop and assaulted her upstairs in a dressing room,” Birnbach testified, saying she “thought it was kind of nutty” for Carroll to go to the lingerie department with Trump.
“And E. Jean said to me many times, ‘He pulled down my tights, he pulled down my tights.’ Almost like she couldn’t believe it had just happened to her,” Birnbach said.
Birnbach also testified she spent two days at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for a 1996 article she wrote for New York magazine.
“I had just spent a few days with him,” Birnbach said. “He didn’t strike me as dangerous.”
“Donald Trump in 1996 was a well-known New York person,” Birnbach told jurors. “He was not in politics. He was not near politics. He was a guy who liked publicity and attention and he was also a known womanizer. My friend wasn’t raped by a president. She was assaulted by a guy, a real estate guy.”
Carroll filed the lawsuit in November, claiming Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post when he called her allegations a “hoax and a lie,” and when he said, “This woman is not my type!” She added the battery charge after New York passed the Adult Survivors Act, allowing victims to file civil suits beyond the criminal statute of limitation.
Jessica Leeds, who was on a business trip in 1979 and says she was groped by Trump during a flight to New York, also testified Tuesday as Carroll’s attorneys attempted to show the jury a pattern of behavior.
Leeds said she was bumped to first class from her coach seat and ended up sitting next to Trump.
“What happened was, they served a meal. And it was cleared and we were sitting there, when all of a sudden Trump decided to kiss me and grope me,” Leeds testified.
“He was trying to pull me towards him. He was grabbing my breasts. It was like he had 40 million hands,” Leeds told the jury.
“It was when he started putting his hand up my skirt, that gave me a jolt of strength,” Leeds said, adding she managed to free herself and went “storming back to my seat in the back of coach.”
Leeds also testified that she did not scream during the alleged encounter and told no one about it until Trump announced his run for president in 2016.
“I started off telling my family, telling my children, telling my friends, my neighbors, my book club, anyone and everyone who would listen to me,” Leeds said. “I thought he was not the kind of person we wanted as president.”
On cross-examination, Tacopina questioned Leeds about why she could not recall the exact date of the alleged assault or where the flight to New York had originated from.
“Fair to say you can’t name one witness who saw what happened to you?” Tacopina asked. “Correct,” Leeds replied.
“Not a single person can corroborate your story?” Tacopina asked.
“That is correct,” Leeds said.
Carroll’s attorney, Michael Ferrara asked on redirect, “Are you making this up because you hate Donald Trump?”
Leeds answered, “No, I’m not making this up.”
Trump has denied the allegations by Leeds and has denied meeting Carroll, claiming he does not know who she is.
Carroll wrapped up her testimony Monday.