


Former President Donald Trump has until early Sunday night to decide whether he wants to testify in the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Thursday that Trump will have until 5 p.m. on Sunday to change his mind on whether or not to take the witness stand.
TRUMP LAWYERS ASK FOR MISTRIAL IN E JEAN CARROLL DEFAMATION AND BATTERY CASE
Both the defense and the prosecution rested their cases on Thursday. If Trump opts to testify, Kaplan said there is a "possibility" he will consider reopening the defense's case "in the interest of justice."
If Trump does not testify, "that ship has sailed," Kaplan said, and the trial will move to closing arguments on Monday.
Trump's legal team has given Kaplan and the jury conflicting information as to whether the former president will arrive in court. On Wednesday, attorney Joe Tacopina said Trump would not testify and effectively pulled their expert witness in the case.
Tacopina also said Trump called him on Thursday morning, saying he would waive his right to testify.
However, on Thursday, Trump told reporters in Ireland that he was "going back to New York" and would "probably attend" the trial, saying that Carroll is a "disgrace" and the accusations against him are "false."
"I have to go back for a woman that made a false accusation about me, and I have a judge who is extremely hostile," Trump said. "And I'm going to go back, and I'm going to confront this. This woman is a disgrace, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen in our country."
In 2019, Carroll put forward allegations that the former president raped her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. She is now suing him for civil battery and defamation to receive unspecified damages.
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The prosecution rested its case after it played the Access Hollywood tape, known for catching Trump on a hot microphone, for the jury.
Trump is the front-runner for the Republican primary in 2024, and a guilty verdict could be particularly significant as it will be the first time Trump has been held legally responsible for sexual assault despite dozens of women accusing him of that and other sexual misconduct for years.