“The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape,’ ” Kaplan wrote.

“To insert a stick in a person’s rectum, is that legitimate?” asked Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian lawmaker during a meeting, showed a video verified by several media outlets. “Yes! If he is a Nukhba everything is legitimate to do him,” screamed Milwidsky back.

One of the basic notions Adam Scott Wandt, an attorney and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, learned over the years is that personal testimony makes for the most inaccurate type of evidence. “People live through experiences and they get it wrong when they repeat it,” he said in a recent interview. “They don’t do it on purpose, it’s just that people’s recollections tend to be pretty poor.”

This is particularly true when it comes to sexual assault, said Wendy Patrick, a career trial attorney who is a member of the organization End Violence Against Women International. People tend to clearly remember being sexually assaulted decades later. But because it’s so traumatizing, they often do not remember the events surrounding the incident. “It’s not usual for people to be unclear when it happened,” she said.