This week, at a rally in Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump described his distinctive speaking style as “the weave.”

“Do you know what the weave is? I talk about several topics, and they all connect perfectly in the end. My friends who are English professors say it’s the most brilliant thing they’ve ever seen,” he explained.

The “weave” was evident during a lengthy and confrontational press conference on Friday, where he criticized several women who have accused him of sexual assault, as well as his legal team following their appeal of a jury’s $5 million verdict in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation.

Many news organizations quickly cut away from Trump’s nearly hour-long address at Trump Tower, opting not to air the entire event. Trump did not entertain questions from reporters. Here are YSL News’s main takeaways from his statements, just before his upcoming debate with Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump spoke following the arguments of three federal appeals judges who were reviewing his appeal regarding a 2023 civil jury verdict that found he sexually abused advice columnist Carroll years ago in a department store and defamed her in 2022 by dismissing her allegations as a “con job.” The jury awarded Carroll $5 million for sexual abuse and defamation. Additionally, another jury awarded her $83.3 million in January for defamatory remarks made by Trump in 2019, and he is appealing that ruling as well.

Bringing Up Previous Allegations

A particularly surprising moment in Trump’s comments was when he voluntarily mentioned prior allegations of sexual misconduct—some of which have likely faded from public memory and were not permitted in the Carroll case.

His legal representatives had contended in court that Carroll’s 2023 rape trial was compromised by the inclusion of other allegations against Trump. Throughout the decades since the 1970s, numerous women have accused him of sexual misconduct.

Trump commented on one woman who accused him of inappropriate conduct on an airplane in the 1970s, stating, “she wouldn’t have been my choice.” He also referenced journalist Natasha Stoynoff, who testified that Trump pushed her against a wall and kissed her against her will while she was at Mar-a-Lago for an interview in 2005.

He claimed that if he had really assaulted Stoynoff, she wouldn’t have written a “beautiful” article about him, although he couldn’t remember her name.

“Whatever her name was − I don’t know her, so perhaps it’s better that way,” he remarked.

Regarding Carroll, he reiterated, “I never touched her. I had no interest in meeting her at all.”

Claims of Never Meeting Carroll

The two legal decisions against Trump relate to his assertion that Carroll fabricated her claim of being attacked by him in a department store fitting room during the 1990s. Carroll’s lawyers have stated that they might pursue further action if he continues to make these claims.

During the press conference, Trump again asserted that Carroll was sharing a “false, made-up story,” prompting her lawyers to once more affirm their stance in a statement.

“I never met her, never touched her, never had any interaction with her,” Trump declared.

He insisted that he had no recollection of Carroll, emphasizing that a 1987 photo featuring him with Carroll and her then-husband, John Johnson, didn’t count. In his comments, he mentioned that Johnson is Black.

Trump had previously misidentified Carroll as his ex-wife Marla Maples in that photograph, taken while he was still married to Ivana Trump, who also appears in the image.

On Friday, Trump incorrectly stated that a photo, which has been publicly available since 2019, may have been generated by artificial intelligence. He previously admitted the photo is genuine but considered the encounter unimportant.

“I never met the woman, except for this picture – which might be AI-made, I have no idea, it just appeared out of nowhere. But it’s okay, it’s a nice picture,” Trump said on Friday.

Criticism of His Legal Team

“I’m let down by my legal team, to be honest,” Trump expressed, suggesting they overlooked “such a famous dress,” which he claimed could have cleared him, referring to it as “Monica Lewinsky part two.”

In February 2023, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan declined a last-minute request from Trump’s attorneys to provide DNA to counter Carroll’s allegations. Kaplan remarked that the legal team had ample time to make this offer but chose to do so just weeks before the trial, likely to delay proceedings.

Carroll’s lawyers had been trying for years to obtain Trump’s DNA to compare it with stains found on the dress that Carroll claims she wore on the day Trump assaulted her.