UNITED STATES: A writer described in graphic detail how Donald Trump allegedly raped her about 30 years ago during a civil trial on Wednesday to determine whether the former American president had assaulted her and then lied about it.
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back,” the writer E. Jean Carroll told the jury in federal court in Manhattan.
Carroll, a 79-year-old former advice writer for Elle magazine, is suing Trump, 76, for unspecified damages. Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president in the 2024 election.
Her lawsuit relates to an alleged meeting in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in late 1995 or early 1996, where she claims Trump assaulted her before she could escape.
Carroll says that Trump defamed her by dubbing her rape claim false, deceptive, and a “complete con job” on his Truth social media platform and stating that she was not his “type” and had made up the incident to sell her memoir.
She is also suing under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which permits adults to file lawsuits against alleged abusers years after the statute of limitations has passed.
The trial
The trial started on Tuesday, but Trump is not present and is not needed to be there. On Thursday, he has scheduled a campaign event in New Hampshire, and both sides have denoted it is doubtful that Trump will testify.
On Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump continued to mock Carroll’s case, calling her attorney a “political operative” and the rape accusation “a made-up SCAM,” adding: “This is a fraudulent & false story—Witch Hunt!”
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan cautioned that if Trump continued to mention the matter, he would run into more legal issues.
Carroll stated in her testimony that she had met Trump years prior to the alleged rape and had found him to be “very personable” and a “man about town.”
Carroll recalled being at Bergdorf when Trump recognised her and extended his hand as she was leaving the store. She stopped.
“He said, ‘Hey, you are that advice lady,'” Carroll remembered. “I said, ‘Hey, you are that real estate tycoon.'”
Carroll stated Trump bantered in a “joshing” manner as he halted for lingerie for another lady. She said that Trump asked her to try on lingerie, encouraging her to joke that he should try it on.
Carroll remarked that Trump then lured her into an open dressing room, closed the door, pressed her up against a wall, and yanked down her tights. She choked and fought back tears as she talked about pushing him away.
“Trump’s fingers went into my vagina, which was extremely painful, extremely painful. He also inserted his penis,” she claimed.
“As I’m sitting here today, I can still feel it. It left me unable to ever have a romantic life again,” she added.
When Carroll was asked by her attorney if she told Trump “no,” she replied, “I may have said it,” but she was unsure.
She added that she felt guilty and worried about being fired and facing Trump’s retaliation if she reported him. Carroll came forward in 2019 after being inspired by the #MeToo movement, rejecting Trump’s repeated claims that she did so because she didn’t like his politics.
Carroll stated, “I’m not settling a political score. I’m settling a personal score because he repeatedly called me a liar, and it really has decimated my reputation.”
She claimed that as a result of Trump’s assaults, Elle fired her, costing her 8 million readers, and other people began to believe she was a liar.
When asked if she regretted ending her silence, Carroll broke down. She said, “I’ve regretted this about 100 times. But in the end, being able to finally get my day in court is everything to me.”
Trump’s attorneys are anticipated to question Carroll on Thursday, including on her inability to recall the alleged rape timing.
Trump’s latest post
Trump posted his most recent remarks on Truth Social around an hour before Wednesday’s testimony started. He asked how anyone could think that he—“being very well known, to put it mildly!”—could have raped Carroll.
“She didn’t scream. There are no witnesses? Nobody saw this?” Trump said.
The posts prompted Kaplan to inform Trump’s defence team in front of the jury that it looked like Trump was “endeavouring, certainly, to speak to his quote-unquote public” and to the jury about topics that have “no business being spoken about.”
Kaplan added that if Trump persisted, he might be “tampering with a new source of liability.” Joe Tacopina, Trump’s attorney, said he will tell Trump to stop.
However, worries about social media swaying the trial reappeared as Trump’s son Eric wrote on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon about Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn and significant Democratic supporter, who was funding Carroll’s lawsuit.
Eric Trump stated that Hoffman’s involvement is “an embarrassment to our country, should be illegal, and tells you everything you need to know about the case.”
Kaplan told Tacopina that such remarks needed to stop. Kaplan added, “There are some relevant U.S. statutes here, and somebody on your side ought to be thinking about them.”
The judge further ruled that Donald Trump’s attorneys could not reference Hoffman during the trial because it would be “unfairly prejudicial.”
Also Read: Court Initiates Opening Statements, Jury Hearings in Trump Civil Assault Trial
