What to expect when jury gets Trump defamation case

the case. We'll be right back with more on that. Thank you. Thank you. Joining us now is Fordham Law professor Cheryl Bader. She's been following the Trump defamation cases here to help us break down what will happen in court later this morning. Good morning, Professor.

How are you? Thanks for being with us. Good morning. It's nice to be here. So what do you think the key issues will be for the jury to consider in this case at this point? Setting the key issue here is about credibility. This is about whether Eugene Carol is telling the truth. And we are not going to be talking about the truth. We are not going to be talking about what the truth is.

But one way was to resorting to rape myths and blaming the victim. So on cross examination, she was questioned about why she didn't come forward. She was questioned about why she went into the dressing room with him and why she didn't scream. And so you know when you think about it when somebody is tells you that they are mugged and they are not going to be talking about the truth, they are going to be talking about them if they didn't scream. And so neuroscience tells us that the response that is instinctive is fight, light or freeze, and that's what Carol did. And so it's going to be up to the jurors to decide whether they believe that this in fact happened to her. And how is the burden proved different in the civil case when compared to a criminal case? And so it's proven to be a burden that is not to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

And that's a very high standard here. It's a civil case. And so it's proof of just a preponderance of the evidence. And so there's not as much of a burden, but yet still there is some burden on the plaintiff to show that it's more likely than not that this in fact happened. So Donald Trump chose not to testify and then we should know that he was not going to testify. And so he's going to testify. And so it's a very high standard here in history.

And will his deposition alone be a strong enough defense for him in your opinion? There was at one point, a picture was shown of Miss Carol. He was she was confused by Mr Trump for his wife, Marla Maples at the time. Yes, so Donald Trump chose not to testify and really not to put on any evidence at all other than what was said in his testimony. And so he decided to testify. And so he decided to testify. And so he saw what a loose cannon he was at his deposition and probably didn't even want him to necessarily testify in his own defense. But jurors think they're coming to the courtroom.

They're taking time from their life. And they say, Well, why isn't he here? Why isn't he here to look us in the eye and deny this because they want to judge an individual, you know, not just to testify, but to hold it against him that he didn't testify. And to your point about, you know, the picture that was shown to him, right? So it's the plaintiff is trying to show that that Donald Trump lied in many instances in his deposition and that he that his defense, his primary defense is that this is a woman who he would never attack because she's not his primary defense. And so he's trying to show that he's not his primary defense. And so he doesn't look good enough for him, which is quite an offensive. Um, you know, defense and certainly not a defense to a rape case, civil or otherwise. So if the jurors aside against Donald Trump, what will happen to him? So again, because it's not a criminal case.

There's not a conviction. There's no evidence that this is a criminal case. Both the defense and the court are going for both the battery as well as defamation. And this is injuries to her reputation. So it's about money damages, and there was testimony about you know, how damaging in fact this was. But I think what really could happen here is if there is a plaintiff's verdict and they decide on the battery going to be running for president again. And, you know, look, his supporters, I think no matter what he does, as he's mentioned before, no matter what he does, I think they'll support him.

But would the mainstream Republicans want a candidate who has been adjudicated, even in a civil case, as being, you know, a sexual, a predator of sexual assault? Care to make a prediction on how long it takes the jury to come down with a decision on this? You know, I don't read T. Lee's and it's hard to predict because you don't know what's happening behind closed doors and how much they're discussing things. But I think that, you know, the evidence, there's no defense evidence. And so I think it won't take them too long to go through everything. I'm wondering how much they're going to discuss Trump himself and his character. Professor Cheryl Bader from the Fordham University School of Law, thank you for joining us. It was good to be here.

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