Silke Jasso
DENVER (AP) — The Latest on Taylor Swift’s civil trial (all times local):
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9:35 a.m.
Taylor Swift says a security guard working for her witnessed her being groped by a former radio host ahead of her 2013 concert in Denver.
She testified guard Greg Dent saw David Mueller “lift [Swift’s] skirt” and grab her but that it was it was impossible for anyone to see Mueller’s hand beneath her skirt and on her buttock because they were posing for the photo with their backs to a wall.
Swift said Thursday that someone would have had to have been underneath her to see the actual groping “and [she and her security staff] didn’t have anyone positioned there.”
Mueller testified Wednesday that the photo taken before the concert was “weird and awkward,” but he insisted that he touched Swift in the ribs, not in the rear.
Mueller testified his hand was touching Swift’s skirt after he put his arm around her and their arms got crossed: “My hand was at rib-cage level, and apparently it went down.”
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9:25 a.m.
Taylor Swift says a former radio DJ grabbed her behind underneath her skirt, not above it, during a 2013 pre-concert meet-and-greet photo session in Denver.
Swift repeatedly gave the account of the incident on the witness stand Thursday in federal court while being questioned in a civil trial over the allegations.
The pop star, dressed in a floral print dress, testified she tried to get as far away from DJ David Mueller as she could but didn’t want to stop the event and disappoint the few dozen people waiting in line.
She said couldn’t have said anything about what happened without others already in the photo area overhearing. She testified that “this was something [she] did not want known.”
She said she was absolutely stunned and told Mueller and his girlfriend, Shannon Melcher, “thank you for coming” in a monotone voice before they left.
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9:10 a.m.
Taylor Swift has testified in her trial accusing a radio host of groping her that “he grabbed [her] ass underneath [her] skirt” when the two posed for a photo together before her 2013 performance in Denver.
Swift testified that after she was grabbed she “got as far away from him as [she] possibly could.”
Swift said she didn’t stop the meet-and-greets after Mueller left because she didn’t want to disappoint a few dozen people who’d been waiting in line. She testified she first mentioned the incident about 15 minutes later to her photographer Stephanie Simbeck.
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9 a.m.
Taylor Swift has taken the witness stand in her lawsuit claiming she was groped by a radio host.
Swift has testified that “it was a definite grab. A very long grab.”
David Mueller sued Swift and others on her team, claiming they cost him his job and is seeking up to $3 million in damages. Swift countersued, alleging sexual assault, and is asking for a symbolic $1 judgment.
Swift’s lawyers have said she does not know Mueller and has no incentive to target him or to fabricate a story.
The case is being tried in federal court under a law allowing the proceeding when the parties live in separate states and the dispute involves a damages claim higher than $75,000.
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12 a.m.
Taylor Swift’s mother didn’t call police to report allegations that a radio station DJ groped her daughter before a 2013 concert, and a liaison for the pop star asked the DJ’s boss to keep a photo of the alleged assault confidential.
Wednesday’s testimony highlighted an initial attempt to keep the encounter in Denver out of the spotlight. Yet four years later, Swift and former DJ David Mueller are embroiled in a widely publicized federal court case.
Andrea Swift said she tried to keep the encounter private because she didn’t want it to define her daughter’s life.
Mueller sued Taylor Swift for at least $3 million, saying she cost him his job and reputation.
Swift countersued, claiming sexual assault. She says she wants to be an example to other assault victims.
