Closing arguments under way in Trump rape trial

“In a very real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself,” she said. “He knows what he did. He knows that he sexually assaulted E Jean Carroll.”

E Jean Carroll filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump (Seth Wenig/AP)

A lawyer has told a jury in the US that Donald Trump should be held accountable for sexually attacking an advice columnist in 1996 because even a former president is not above the law.

Roberta Kaplan delivered the first closing argument in the federal civil trial, showing jurors video clips of Mr Trump from his October deposition and replaying the Access Hollywood video from 2005 in which he said into a hot mic that celebrities could grab women’s genitals without asking.