Trump won’t attend E. Jean Carroll’s civil rape trial

Donald Trump won’t be attending the ongoing trial in E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit accusing him of rape and defamation, the former president’s lawyers confirmed to a Manhattan federal judge Tuesday.

Judge Lewis Kaplan pressed Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina on whether his client would show for any of the proceedings after jurors were dismissed Tuesday afternoon.

“We have to know,” Judge Kaplan said. “So Mr. Trump is not going to be coming?”

“Correct,” Tacopina responded.

“It’s his call,” the judge continued. “I understand that, you understand that, he understands that, right?”

“Yes,” the lawyer said.

Trump, 76, has not been present in court since the trial began last Tuesday and is not required to appear.

While jurors will not hear live testimony from the former commander-in-chief, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan told the judge they are planning to play for the jury excerpts of Trump’s video deposition.

Trial testimony could conclude as soon as Thursday, the lawyers estimated — which would mean jurors would likely begin deliberating by early next week.

Carroll, 79, went public in June 2019 with her claims that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room, most likely in 1996.

She then filed suit against him in November of that year for allegedly defaming her when he denied the claims, said he didn’t know her and called her accusations a “hoax.”

Carroll filed a second lawsuit last November over the alleged attack and for additional defamation claims. The jury is deciding the claims in the second lawsuit.

Carroll was on the witness stand for three days during emotional testimony including when she said she could “still feel the pain” from the alleged attack.