Carroll Rebuttal Erased Most of Tacopina’s Points

After Tacopina sat down, Michael Ferrara stood up to make the rebuttal argument for Carroll. Since the plaintiff has the burden of proof, plaintiff’s counsel gets the last word in closing argument.

Ferrera made masterful use of the opportunity to debunk Tacopina’s arguments. He pointed out that Tacopina’s contention that Carroll’s whole case was a lie cooked up by Carroll, Martin, and Birnbach did not make sense. He mocked the theory, saying “So what about the scheme? They are so stupid they need to steal from Law & Order?”

Ferrara also took apart Tacopina’s “game, set and match” text message. Ferrara noted that Tacopina did not ask Martin about the text that he now was attempting to turn into the lynchpin of the case. More importantly, Ferrara pointed out that the “something that hasn’t really happened” was New York passing the law to lift the statute of limitations for sexual assault of an adult, which is what allowed Carroll to sue Trump. And Ferrara was able to point to record evidence that demonstrated that he had found a true thing that helped his client.

Without playing it, Ferrara again turned to the Access Hollywood tape. He noted that “Trump never said it wasn’t true. It was a confession. It was not just locker room talk. I’ve been in locker rooms and I’ve never heard about furniture shopping.” Ferrara twisted the knife, “Trump said, ‘I move on her like a B-I-T-C-H.’Like in Bergdorf’s, shopping. Grabs them by their genitals. That’s not locker room talk, when Donald Trump says it. He did exactly that.”

Ferrara concluded with the fact that Donald Trump had not attended trial and had not testified. In Ferrara’s words, it was not a “he said, she said” case, because there was no “he said”.

Now, It Is All Up to the Jury

On Tuesday, Judge Kaplan will give the jury their final instructions, which will likely take about one hour. After that, the case will be in the hands of the jury.