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Former President Donald Trump is reportedly planning on calling one of the most familiar faces at CNN in an upcoming civil trial involving rape allegations: Anderson Cooper.
According to The Daily Beast, Cooper would be a witness in a trial regarding a writer’s allegations that Trump raped her in a department store changing room in the 1990s. On Thursday, lawyers for the former president and E. Jean Carroll made public the witnesses they planned to call, and Cooper is on Trump’s list, the outlet noted, adding that Trump will be focused on business deals Carroll made after she first made her rape claim in 2019.
The outlet noted further that a source familiar with Trump’s legal strategy said that the former president will seek to focus on an interview during which Carroll told Cooper: “I think most people think of rape as being sexy. They think of the fantasies.”
Carroll filed suit against Trump for defamation after he said she was lying regarding her rape claim in order to sell a book.
According to the New York Post, Carroll has also filed suit against Trump, claiming sexual battery under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which was passed last year to allow alleged victims of past abuse file claims in cases that surpassed the statute of limitations.
An attorney for the former president said he would be providing a DNA sample in connection with the lawsuit, but only if certain conditions are met, ABC News added.
The Western Journal noted further:
Attorney Joseph Tacopina said that Carroll’s side first has to produce missing pages from a DNA report on semen stains found on a dress Carroll says she wore the day of the alleged attack, which she has said took place in either 1995 or 1996.
Roberta Kaplan, who represents Carroll, called the demand a “legally frivolous delay tactic” and said it was designed to potentially influence jurors.
In October, Trump denied the incident in a sworn deposition.
“She said that I did something to her that never took place. There was no anything. I know nothing about this nut job,” he said. “I think she’s sick, mentally sick.”
In January, a federal judge imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions on Trump and his lawyer for filing a lawsuit against twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and others. The lawsuit, which was thrown out in September, claimed Clinton and others tried to sway the 2016 presidential election in her favor by smearing Trump.
“We are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge John Middlebrooks in his order sanctioning Trump and his attorney Alina Habba.
Middlebrooks, who was appointed to the federal bench in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton, wrote in his order: “Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions … As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba.”
“Under the order, the Republican Trump and Habba, are jointly and severally liable for the total amount of sanctions the judge imposed to cover the defendants’ legal fees and costs: $937,989.39. That amount is about $120,000 less than what the defendants jointly requested for sanctions. Clinton was awarded $171,631 in sanctions to be paid by Trump and Habba, with most of that money earmarked for Clinton’s attorneys’ fee,” CNBC reported.
“That was the second largest amount awarded in Middlebrooks’ order, which gave the Democratic National Committee, its former chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and a related corporation $179,685,” the outlet added.
Back in November, Clinton filed a motion asking the court to force Trump and his attorney to pay some $1 million in legal fees after he unsuccessfully sued her and others.
