Trump to Call CNN’s Anderson Cooper as Defense Witness in E. Jean Carroll Rape and Defamation Case
The witness lists in the lawsuit brought against ex-president Donald Trump by E. Jean Carroll includes among the names CNN’s Anderson Cooper as a witness for the defense.
The judge this week set an April 25 trial date for the suit, which alleges that Trump raped and then defamed Carroll in saying she lied about the assault. The plaintiff and defendant jointly filed their trial plans Thursday in a Manhattan court.
Carroll’s suit accuses Trump of “publicly, falsely, and maliciously smearing” the author by saying, among other things, that she made up the story in order to “make money, to increase book sales, or to carry out a political agenda,” and by implying “she had falsely accused other unspecified men of sexual assault.”
Law & Crime’s Adam Klasfeld on Friday shared the witness list filed this week by Trump’s defense team, and the inclusion of CNN’s Cooper immediately caught attention.
Klasfeld explains that Cooper was one of the first members of the media to interview Carroll when she first stepped forward against Trump.
The case has faced numerous delays since it was first filed in 2019, and Trump’s attorneys this week unsuccessfully attempted to push it back again before Judge Lewis Kaplan set the April 25 date.
