Donald Trump has defended flying to Ireland to play golf while his civil rape trial continues in New York.
The former US president Donald Trump arrived at his golf course and hotel outside the Irish town of Doonbeg on Wednesday night.
Asked by a Sky News reporter why he was in Ireland “instead of New York for your civil case”, he said he understands his defence team is “doing very well”.
“We have a long-standing agreement to come here,” said Mr Trump, at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Co Clare, on the west coast of Ireland.
“We’ve had a tremendous reception - a beautiful reception. The people of Ireland have been great.
“And we have a tremendous success, and I hear we’re doing very well in New York.”
Mr Trump is facing a civil claim brough by former advice columnist E Jean Carroll, who alleges that the former president raped her in the mid-1990s.
Ms Carroll first detailed the alleged rape in her 2019 memoir in which she said a chance encounter with Trump in spring 1996 led to him attacking her in a dressing room of a department store.
Mr Trump denies the allegation.
On Wednesday, Mr Trump’s legal team said they decided not to put forward a defence case after learning that health issues were preventing their expert witness, a psychiatrist, from giving evidence.
His lawyer Joseph Tacopina had previously said Mr Trump would not give evidence at the trial, which is taking place in federal court in Manhattan.
On Wednesday, jurors heard portions of a videotaped deposition he sat for in the case in October.
In one clip, Mr Trump called Ms Carroll’s allegations “ridiculous” and alleged it was “just made up.”
Ms Carroll’s lawyers said they could finish presenting their case on Thursday.
They listed five remaining witnesses, including a former People magazine writer who claims Mr Trump pinned her against a wall and forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida in 2005. He denies the allegation.
Mr Trump denies touching women against their will and has said Ms Carroll’s claims are politically motivated attempts to smear his reputation and deny him the White House.
