Court Rules Donald Trump Is Liable For Battery And Defamation
Before we get onto Giuliani's bizarre views about Trump's lawsuit, let's briefly recap what happened to the former president a few days ago in court. On Tuesday, May 9th, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, with CNN reporting that she was awarded with a total of nearly $5M. If you'll recall, Carroll sued Trump for sexually abusing her in a Bergdorf Goodman changing room in the 1990s, and then defaming her by calling the allegations "a hoax and a lie," and in his defense, saying that she wasn’t his "type."
The jury awarded Carroll about $2M in damages for her civil battery claim, and also included approximately $3M for proving her defamation claim against the former president. According to CNN, Carroll sued Trump for battery, alleging that his conduct was a sexual offense because it was "rape, sexual abuse or forcible touching." While the jury could not say that she could successfully prove that he raped her, they did find that Carroll proved Trump committed sexual abuse, which therefore allowed her to receive damages for her battery claim.
Rudy Giuliani's Thoughts On Trump's Sexual Assault Case
Rudy Giuliani discussed the court verdict with Greg Kelly on Newsmax on Tuesday, May 9th, and referenced the fact that he actually sent one of his colleagues to Bergdorf Goodman, where Carroll alleges the incident took place, to get some more information. What he thought his colleague would find about Carroll's allegation from over 30 years ago just by visiting the store is currently (and most likely will always be) unknown.
"I think it’s a blip, and I think it’s completely absurd," Giuliani told Kelly about the verdict following the trial. "You know, today I sent Ted, my colleague, over to Bergdorf," he explained, asking Kelly, "Do you know there hasn’t been a rape in Bergdorf dressing room in 32 years?"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Kelly said in confusion, adding: "What do you mean by that? 1990, wait, 32 years ago was 1991." Giuliani then replied, "Yeah. We went and interviewed the people at Bergdorf and asked them, has there ever been a rape here? And they said, 'No, there’s never been a rape here. I’ve been working here for 32 years.'"
Kelly then asked, still as confused as ever: "Did Ted just… I mean, look, I know that this did not happen, but did Ted just ask some guy who was standing there? I mean, how did you…" And Giuliani continued to offer the most, interesting, shall we say, response in defense of his friend.
"No. No. No, Giuliani replied instantly. "Please, we asked the employees has there ever been a rape here? 'No.' We went and looked at the dressing room," he continued, adding: "To do a rape in Bergdorf is like doing it in the open. You might as well do it in the open. It’s totally ridiculous to think that a man like Trump, who was very well known, the minute he walks into Bergdorf, everybody’s all over him. It’s totally ridiculous to think that this rape took place."
So if we are to believe Giuliani, who believed an employee named Ted, who believed an unknown Bergdorf Goodman employee, Carroll couldn’t possibly have been abused in the dressing room. We wonder if he will use the same, ahem, logic when it comes to his own defense for his own lawsuit...