The final witness in E Jean Carroll’s civil lawsuit against former president Donald Trump that accuses him of rape and defamation gave evidence on Thursday.
Carol Martin is one of the two friends that Ms Carroll spoke to about the alleged assault, which the longtime Elle advice columnist says happened in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s.
Ms Martin was questioned at a Manhattan federal court about an email she sent to Ms Carroll about the former president in 2017, reported Business Insider.
The email was sent just a few weeks before Ms Carroll would start work on “What do we need men for?” – the 2019 book in which she publicly accused Mr Trump of rape for the first time.
In September 2017 Ms Martin sent Ms Carroll an article making fun of Mr Trump.
She referred to him as “Orange Crush” and followed it up with another message saying “this has to stop” and “as soon as we’re both well enuf [sic] to scheme, we must both do our patriotic duty”.
Ms Carroll responded: “TOTALLY!!! I have something special for you when we meet.”
Ms Martin said to court that the email exchange had nothing to do with Ms Carroll’s decision to come forward with her story about Mr Trump.
Ms Martin said she recalled the “something special” referred to in the email exchange as a toy squirrel for Ms Carroll’s granddaughter.
However, Ms Carroll herself could not recall what the “something special” was.
Ms Martin also said later that “scheme” was a reference to supporting Democratic party causes.
She said to court that Ms Carroll had confided in her about being attacked by Mr Trump
She described Ms Carroll as “clearly agitated, anxious”, reported The Guardian.
Ms Martin said she advised Ms Carroll to keep quiet about the alleged assault.
“I just volunteered that she shouldn’t do anything because it was Donald Trump and he had a lot of attorneys and he would just bury her,” she was quoted as saying.
Ms Martin added that she was testifying voluntarily and it had nothing to do with her feelings about Mr Trump, and all to do with supporting her friend.
“I’m here because I want to reiterate and remember what my friend E Jean Carroll told me 27 years ago. I believed it then and I believe it today,” she was quoted as saying.
The evidentiary stage of the trial ended on Thursday and is expected to go to the jury in New York early next week.
On Thursday, Mr Trump told Sky News that his legal team was doing very well in the case and he flew to Ireland instead of attending the civil trial because he had a “long-standing agreement” to visit his Doonberg golf course on the Irish west coast.
