Trump lawyer calls writer’s rape claim an ‘affront to justice’ in closing arguments

Former President Trump’s attorney Monday called writer E. Jean Carroll’s claim that Trump raped her decades ago an “affront to justice” that minimizes “real rape victims.”

In his closing arguments, Joe Tacopina dismissed Carroll’s federal civil trial against Trump as a “scam of a lawsuit” based on an “unbelievable story.”

“What they want is for you to hate him enough to ignore the facts,” Tacopina said.

Carroll is suing for battery and defamation over claims Trump raped her a Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in 1996; Trump has denied the claims. 

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, showed the jury the 2005 “Access Hollywood” video that shows Trump saying celebrities can grab women by the genitals without consent. 

“That’s who Donald Trump is. That is how he thinks. And that’s what he does,” Kaplan said. “He thinks he can get away with it here.”

The trial opened late last month, and jurors are expected to start deliberations Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed.