Donald Trump’s lawyers want to bar jurors in his upcoming civil rape trial from hearing about the infamous “Grab ’em by the P*ssy” tape, in which the former president brags about how celebrities can molest women.
Trump attorneys Alina Habba and Michael Madaio filed papers in federal court in Manhattan late Thursday.
They are trying to block references to the taped 2005 encounter and the tape itself from the April trial.
On the tape, he would sometimes say this when he sees beautiful women: “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. just kiss I don’t even wait.
“If you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything – grab her by the p*ssy.’
The trial stems from claims made by longtime columnist E. Jean Carroll. She alleges that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. Trump denies their allegations.
Lawyers called the tape “irrelevant and highly prejudicial” and said it could be improperly used to suggest to the jury that Trump had sexual assault tendencies and therefore must have raped Carroll.
Trump’s lawyers are trying to prevent the infamous Access Hollywood tape from being brought into his April 25 rape trial. He has said that the encounter with Carroll in the mid-1990s at an upscale Manhattan department store never happened
Billy Bush and Donald Trump met actress Arianne Zucker during a segment of Access Hollywood in 2005. Just before Trump and Bush began filming, Trump boasted that he could “grab women by the p*ssy”.
They also called for the testimony of two women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct to be prevented and for references to his campaign speeches to be banned.
Carroll, 79, sued Trump in November after New York state temporarily changed laws to allow adult rape victims to sue their abusers, even if the attacks date back decades.
A trial is scheduled for April 25 and both Trump and Carroll are expected to testify.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, said in her 2019 memoir, “What Do We Need Men For?” that Trump raped her in late 1995 or early 1996 in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in Manhattan.
Trump has sometimes angrily denied it in public statements.
In an October deposition for the upcoming trial, Trump dismissed Carroll’s claims, saying, “Physically, she’s not my type.”
Trump has denied knowing Carroll, although a 1987 photo shows her with Carroll’s then-husband and first wife Ivana Trump, who died last year.
It was this photo he was apparently shown in October 2022, when he mistook Carroll for his second wife, Marla Maples.
Donald Trump was reportedly shown this photo with his first wife Ivana, rape accuser E. Jean Carroll, and Carroll’s then-husband. He mistook Carroll for Marla Maples
Trump shares a daughter, Tiffany, with actress Marla Maples (pictured left, 1996). Writer E. Jean Carroll (pictured right, 2020) accused him of sexual assault
In his statement, Trump said of Carroll: “She is not a woman I would ever be attracted to. There’s no reason for me to be attracted to her.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, confronted him about allegations made against him by two dozen other women and asked if any of them were true.
‘I would say. I mean I don’t see any. I mean, you didn’t show me anything,” Trump replied, according to the transcript.
His responses may add to the relevance of the salacious comments he made on the Access Hollywood tape, unveiled just weeks before his November 2016 presidential election victory.
Afterward, he rarely apologized, saying the comments were “banter in the dressing room” that were recorded with a hot microphone.
In excerpts of his affidavit made publicly available late Thursday, Trump said it’s largely true “for the last million years” that celebrities can touch women they find attractive.
“Unfortunately or fortunately,” he added.
“And you think you’re a star?” Kaplan asked.
“I think you can say that, yes,” Trump replied.
In her lawsuit, Carroll said she had a chance encounter with Trump that escalated into a playful banter when he asked her to help him choose lingerie for a friend.
She said they teased each other to try on a piece of lingerie and went to the dressing room, where Trump got violent and raped her.
Her attorney declined to comment on Friday.