Lawyers for E. Jean Carroll, the author who alleges that Donald Trump raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the 1990s, say they have found out the former president intends to submit evidence during an upcoming trial about her “sexual predisposition” — in violation of court rules — and even though the trial surrounding this begins April 25 — he won’t even be there.

Carroll’s attorneys discovered last week that Trump’s legal team plans to show the jury excerpts from her deposition — something that would “squarely” break rules that prohibit introducing evidence that is intended to “prove that a victim engaged in other sexual behavior” or to show their “sexual predisposition, noted Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan Wednesday in a filing in Manhattan federal court.

Kaplan filed details concerning the disputed evidence separately under seal, Yahoo! News reports. Federal rules of evidence are meant to prevent “embarrassment for victims of sexual assault or otherwise publicly reinforce offensive sexual stereotypes about them,” Kaplan wrote.

Trump’s attorneys are, of course, trying to pin the blame on the purported rape on Carroll. It’s something that far too many women worldwide have become accustomed to because victim-blaming is so pervasive. The shocking fact is that during their lifetime one in three women or roughly 736 million women are victims of sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence from someone who isn’t a partner, The World Health Organization reports.

As the day of the trial looms, Carroll and Trump are wrapping up preparations, and while the former president sent a letter to the judge Wednesday requesting the court give the jury a special instruction that he was “excused” from attending so that the jury won’t think negatively about his absence.

According to one of Trump’s lawyers, he wants to attend, but the “logistical and financial burdens on New York” would be significant, per Yahoo. A federal judge slapped that down on Thursday, saying that Trump’s lawyers cannot make any mention of the “burden” that New York City may be spared from, ABC News reports. The former president is accused of defaming and battering Carroll.

In a separate letter, Kaplan pointed out that Trump somehow found the time to speak at a National Rifle Association event, attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, was deposed as part of a separate lawsuit in Lower Manhattan, and is scheduled to give a talk in New Hampshire next week.

“If Mr. Trump decides not to appear at his own trial for sexual assault and defamation, the jury may draw whatever inferences it chooses — and Mr. Trump has no right to a judicial endorsement of his (flimsy) excuse, Kaplan wrote.

So Trump might now show, but at least his attorneys won’t be able to make their silly excuses. And Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina has declined to comment on the filings.

Carroll is a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, and she went public in 2019 with her claim that Trump raped her and sued him last year for battery as part of a new state law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on these types of claims for a year.

And Trump being who he is, he’s continually denied any wrongdoing and describes the lawsuit as a broader “witch-hunt” against him.

I can’t help but wonder if Trump worries he’ll accidentally incriminate himself further if he does testify at the trial. Seems to me he would want to defend himself in person.

I know I’m just guessing here, but I have found that men who bully women (which he does) are often cowards. Maybe he is too.