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  4.  » Trump lawyer calls ‘rape’ lawsuit a HOAX

Says there’s no proof accuser exists as he claims her address and phone number are fakes and ‘clearly there’s some kind of collusion going on’

David Martosko, Ryan Parry and Hannah Parry — Mail Online April 29, 2016

Donald Trump. Click to enlarge

Donald Trump. Click to enlarge

Donald Trump’s attorney told DailyMail.com on Friday that a lawsuit claiming Trump raped a 13-year-old girl at billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious ‘sex parties’ appears to be a hoax.

Trump had already ‘categorically’ denied the claims but attorney Alan Garten’s statement signals that the Trump campaign is eager to swat down the allegation before it gains any more traction.

‘The allegations are not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, more likely, are politically motivated,’ Garten told DailyMail.com in a statement. ‘To be clear, there is absolutely no merit to these claims and, based on our investigation, no evidence that the person who has made these allegations actually exists.’

In a followup telephone interview, Garten cited a litany of specific indications that the lawsuit is a hoax perpetrated by ‘someone with some level of legal background.’

The address listed on the lawsuit exists, he said, but ‘there is no indication or record that that person’ named as the lawsuit plaintiff ‘ever resided there. So we believe it is a false address.’

He also said the phone number listed on the lawsuit papers rings to voicemail and publicly available records tie it to another person.

‘There is no record that the phone number is tied to the person who has made these allegations,’ he said.

‘We believe that this person does not exist.’

The suit details claims made by a woman named as ‘Katie Johnson,’ with a home address named as what turned out to be an empty, foreclosed property at ‘Twentynine Palms’ in California.

Neighbors told reporters that the home has been empty since the death of its owner, David Stacey, last October. The property went into default soon after and on April 11 – just 15 days before the lawsuit was filed – the bank officially foreclosed.

Garten rattled off a list of indications in the lawsuit that suggest it was not filed by an indigent woman acting on her own behalf, but that it was drafted by someone who ‘clearly has some legal background.’

The suit details claims made by a woman named as ‘Katie Johnson,’ who says her net worth is $278, leading her to request a waiver of the filing fees.

‘This is not a “pro se” filing,’ Garten told DailyMail.com, referring to the legal term for someone who petitions a court without an attorney.

‘This was written on legal paper with margins and line numbers. It’s properly captioned. It has no typos. It has footers. It cites statutes.’

‘This has all the hallmarks of being drafted by someone with some level of legal background,’ he said, ‘and ‘this was filed to not leave fingerprints.’

‘I mean, there’s a section titled “material witnesses!” This is not someone with $278 to her name.’

He suggested that the lawsuit filer pleaded poverty ‘because unless you pay in cash, the filing fee traces back to someone.’

‘It seems like there’s a lot more to this story than some random person. Clearly there’s some kind of collusion going on here,’ Garten insisted.

In California as in most states, anyone can file a lawsuit with a court – whether or not they are a lawyer or a named plaintiff. No identification is required.

But most suits are filed by lawyers who put their names on the legal papers, and the ethics requirements of their law licenses generally prevent the kind of shenanigans Garten suggested.

Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, told DailyMail.com on Thursday night that the allegations were ‘disgusting at the highest level’ after he was accused of raping and sexually assaulting a minor in a bombshell $100 million lawsuit.

Jeffrey Epstein in custody.

Jeffrey Epstein in custody.

The suit claims Trump took Johnson’s virginity and alleges that the Republican presidential hopeful and financier Epstein treated her as a ‘sex slave’ during an ‘horrific’ four-month period in 1994.

Johnson – presuming she is a real person – has been offering her alleged story to a series of news outlets, and photographs of her have been offered for sale for up to $25,000.

Radar Online reported Thursday night that Epstein’s infamous ‘little black book,’ a record of his contacts seized by the FBI, doesn’t include the name Katie Johnson, casting further doubt on the lawsuit’s claims.

Trump, 69, issued a furious denial of the legal claims, telling DailyMail.com: ‘The allegations are not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated. There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period.’

Questions have also been raised by a political source who told the Radar Online that the allegations were ‘a desperate plot to try and ruin Donald.’

In her legal complaint, the woman named as Johnson makes shocking and unproven claims that Trump and Epstein ‘sexually and physically’ abused her and threatened to harm her or her family if she didn’t comply.

The suit also claims she and a third ‘sex slave’ – also aged 13 – gave Trump and Epstein naked, sexually charged massages in the same room of the Manhattan residence during one of the parties.

‘The Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, was subject to extreme sexual and physical abuse by both defendants, including rape,’ the lawsuit states.

It added: ‘The Plaintiff Katie Johnson, was enticed with promises of money and a modeling career to attend a series of underage sex parties at the Manhattan residence of Defendant, Jeffrey E. Epstein, and attended by Defendant, Donald J. Trump.’

Trump wasted little time on Friday deflecting attention to Hillary Clinton, calling her an ‘enabler’ of her husband Bill’s sexual misconduct.

‘Crooked Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most dishonest person to have ever run for the presidency, is also one of the all time great enablers!’ he tweeted.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday at a court in southern California. In states that a New York ‘party planner’ who spent ten years working for Epstein, is willing to give testimony in support of its claims.

The complaint identifies the woman only as Tiffany Doe, a ‘trusted employee’ of Epstein’s, and claims that Doe can confirm all of Ms Johnson’s allegations.

It states: ‘Tiffany Doe will testify to the fact that Plaintiff Katie Johnson was lucky to have survived to tell of the sexual and physical of the horrors that she suffered at the hands of Defendant Epstein and Defendant Trump.’

The lawsuit states that between June and September of 1994, Johnson was ‘enticed’ by convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, 63, to attend ‘underage sex parties’ and during this period it is alleged Trump attended the parties and met Ms Johnson on several occasions.

At the parties, it’s claimed ‘scores of teenagers and pre-teen girls’ were used as sex slaves by Epstein and his business associates, ‘including Defendant Trump’, according to the paperwork.

In one alleged encounter, ‘Johnson’ claims in her lawsuit that she was tied to a bed by Trump and ‘forcibly raped’ by the billionaire.

The suit alleges that Trump refused to wear a condom during the violent ‘rape’ despite her pleas.

‘Defendant Trump slapped the Plaintiff Johnson in the face with his open hand and angrily stated that he would do whatever he wanted and that he was in charge,’ the suit states.

‘After achieving sexual orgasm,’ the lawsuit also claims, ‘defendant Trump put his clothes back on and when the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, sobbed about being afraid that Defendant Trump had impregnated her, Defendant Trump angrily threw $100 bills at her and screamed at her ‘to get a f***ing abortion’ with the money.’

Garten, Trump’s attorney, said Friday that the allegations are ‘so over-the-top.’

‘There’s no merit to the allegations. Categorically false.’

In the complaint, Johnson also alleges she was sexually abused by Epstein himself on three different occasions during the same four month period, including one savage attack during which she was beaten and ‘raped and sodomized’ by the billionaire.

In more lurid and unsavory claims, she alleges she was forced to give Epstein a full-body massage while he was naked and repeatedly told to touch his erect penis while he masturbated.

And then she was forced in to the humiliating and degrading act of cleaning up Epstein’s semen with her bare hands, according to the paperwork.

Donald Trump, pictured in 1997 with Epstein's former girlfriend, and Daughter of Rupert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell who was accused of supplying Epstein with underage girls

Donald Trump, pictured in 1997 with Epstein’s former girlfriend, and Daughter of Rupert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell who was accused of supplying Epstein with underage girls

‘Defendant Trump slapped the Plaintiff Johnson in the face with his open hand and angrily stated that he would do whatever he wanted and that he was in charge,’ the suit states.

‘After achieving sexual orgasm,’ the lawsuit also claims, ‘defendant Trump put his clothes back on and when the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, sobbed about being afraid that Defendant Trump had impregnated her, Defendant Trump angrily threw $100 bills at her and screamed at her ‘to get a f***ing abortion’ with the money.’

Garten, Trump’s attorney, said Friday that the allegations are ‘so over-the-top.’

‘There’s no merit to the allegations. Categorically false.’

In the complaint, Johnson also alleges she was sexually abused by Epstein himself on three different occasions during the same four month period, including one savage attack during which she was beaten and ‘raped and sodomized’ by the billionaire.

In more lurid and unsavory claims, she alleges she was forced to give Epstein a full-body massage while he was naked and repeatedly told to touch his erect penis while he masturbated.

And then she was forced in to the humiliating and degrading act of cleaning up Epstein’s semen with her bare hands, according to the paperwork.

The suit alleges that Johnson was forced to perform the sex acts through threats of ‘physical harm’ to her and her family.

Following one round of abuse which allegedly involved both Epstein and Trump receiving massages from Ms Johnson and another underage girl, Ms Johnson recalls in the lawsuit, how the two men began to row over who would take her virginity first.

The lawsuit claims that it was in fact, it was Trump who did it.

Johnson was repeatedly warned, the suit claims, that should she ever reveal any details of the sexual and physical abuse, she and her family would be in ‘mortal danger’.

The ‘party planner’, Tiffany Doe, was there to witness the incidents with Trump, according to the document.

It states: ‘Tiffany Doe was physically present at each of the four occasions of sexual abuse by Defendant Trump upon the person of Plaintiff Johnson, as it was her job to witness all of the sexual escapades of Epstein’s guests at these underage sex parties and later reveal all of the sordid details directly to Defendant Epstein.’

It added that Epstein had also demanded that she listen in to the encounters explaining that ‘knowledge is king’ in the financial world and that he wanted to ‘accumulate inside business knowledge’.

The lawsuit will undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows among the political establishment.

Epstein was arrested in 2006 and accused of sexual abuse by 40 different women, with many alleging they were teenagers at the time, some younger than 14. None of them ever implicated Trump in any wrongdoing.

In February Trump brought up Epstein and dragged former President Bill Clinton in to Epstein’s seedy world.

Clinton has ‘a lot of problems coming up in my opinion with the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein. A lot of problems,’ Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Trump has distanced himself from the financier, who pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage prostitute.

He banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida for allegedly propositioning an underage girl.

It’s ten years since Epstein was first investigated when police were tipped off that women working as assistants to Epstein were procuring underage girls to give him sexual massages.

Prince Andrew pictured in 2011 with Jeffrey Epstein.

Prince Andrew pictured in 2011 with Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein is alleged to have provided Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Alan Deshowitz with underage girls. Click to enlarge

As the inquiry unfolded detectives spoke with dozens of girls, some of whom were 15 or younger.

Many of the allegations against Epstein resurfaced last year when Virginia Roberts, now 31, filed a lawsuit claiming to have been Epstein’s sex slave.

She went on to allege that in 2001 when she was an underage teenager she had sex with Epstein’s one-time friend Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

The allegations were vehemently denied by the Duke and were removed from court records following a federal judge’s ruling in April last year.

Court papers lodged in Florida had accused Prince Andrew of having sex with Miss Roberts when she was 17.

She claimed that under the orders of Epstein she was ‘forced’ to have sex with the prince three times in 2001 – in London, New York and on Epstein’s Caribbean island.

Her accusations were part of submissions made by lawyers acting for Miss Roberts who wanted to join an existing civil lawsuit launched by two other women.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra refused Miss Roberts permission to join the lawsuit and said in his written judgment that the sex abuse details had no bearing on the lawsuit’s goal of reopening the Epstein non-prosecution agreement.

As for Epstein he has been dogged by the scandal of sexual abuse ever since he struck an infamous plea bargain.

In July last year a judge released a cache of court documents from Epstein’s 2008 plea deal that showed prosecutors suspected the financier of abusing up to 40 underage girls – but failed to charge him.

Instead he was sentenced to just eighteen months in prison for a misdemeanor – soliciting an underage girl for prostitution.

He was released after 13 months for good behavior and is now a registered sex offender.

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