Even his courtroom opponent admits it: President Donald J. Trump might’ve walked away victorious in their legal showdown — if he had chosen to testify.
In a rare moment of candor, writer and former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll acknowledged during an appearance on Cat Greenleaf’s Soberness Story Hour that Trump had a shot at winning the high-profile defamation and assault case — had he simply taken the stand.
“[His lawyer] Joe Tacopina is a great defense attorney and he did his best for Trump,” Carroll conceded. “If Trump had followed his advice, he may have won. He could have won. But he didn’t follow Joe Tacopina’s advice. He didn’t come home from Ireland.”
That “home” would’ve been the courtroom, where Trump opted not to testify — instead choosing to stay on the fairways of Ireland during the closing days of the 2019 trial. Despite hinting to reporters he might cut his trip short, he never did. According to Carroll, that decision might have cost him the win.
The case stems from Carroll’s decades-old accusation that Trump assaulted her in a department store fitting room in the 1990s — a claim he has consistently denied. Carroll originally sued for defamation after Trump called her allegation a lie, and then again following a jury finding in her favor. Both verdicts are currently under appeal.
While many in the liberal mainstream media paint Trump as toxic in the courtroom, Carroll surprisingly pushed back on that narrative, admitting he has persuasive power — even in court.
“He could have won over at least one juror and gotten a hung jury,” she said, noting that the panel wasn’t the typical Manhattan jury many expected. “We didn’t have a Manhattan jury… we had an upstate, Trump jury,” she said, referring to a pool drawn from Republican-leaning towns north of the city.
This wasn’t exactly a hostile crowd for Trump — and Carroll knows it.
Carroll suspects Trump may have feared cross-examination by her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, whom she praised as someone who “would have ripped his head off.” Still, even Carroll admits that Trump — a man who bulldozed through debates, press ambushes, and impeachment attempts — could have swayed just one juror with his signature bravado.
Tacopina declined to comment on the remarks, and Trump’s team hasn’t yet responded to the latest round of commentary.
If nothing else, she’s right about one thing — Trump knows how to win an audience.
