New York: An author recounted in graphic detail Wednesday how Donald Trump allegedly raped her nearly 30 years ago, setting out to determine whether the former US president assaulted her and then lied about it.
E Jean Carroll told jurors in federal court in Manhattan, “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn’t happen.” “She lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back.”
Carroll, 79, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, is seeking unspecified damages from Trump, 76, who leads the Republican field in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Her lawsuit relates to an alleged encounter in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in late 1995 or early 1996, where she says Trump raped her before fleeing.
Carroll says Trump defamed her on his Truth social media platform, calling her rape claim a hoax, a lie and a “complete hoax”, saying she was not her “type” and selling her memoir Was.
She is also suing under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which allows adults to prosecute their alleged abusers for long periods of time.
Trump is not attending and is not required to participate in the trial that began on Tuesday. He has a New Hampshire campaign event on Thursday, and both sides have indicated it is unlikely Trump will testify.
Trump maintained his disdain for Carroll’s case on Truth Social on Wednesday, calling her attorney a “political operative” and the rape claim “a made-up scam”: “It’s a fraudulent and false story – witch hunt!”
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan warned that if Trump continues to discuss the matter, he may face more legal problems.
Carroll testified that she had met Trump several years prior to the alleged rape, finding him “very charming” and “a man about town”.
At Bergdorf, Carroll recalled that she was leaving the store when Trump recognized her and took her hand. She stopped.
“He said, ‘Hey, you’re that mentoring woman,'” Carroll recalled. “I said, ‘Hey, you’re that real estate tycoon.'”
Carroll said Trump joked in a “spirited” tone when he took her lingerie shopping for another woman.
She said Trump asked her to try on a piece of lingerie, prompting her to joke that she should try it on.
Carroll said Trump then led her into an open dressing room, closed the door, pushed her against a wall and lowered her to her trunks. As she described pushing him back, she choked up and fought back her tears.
Trump’s fingers “went into my vagina, which was extremely painful, extremely painful,” and he “inserted his penis,” she said.
“As I sit here today, I can still feel it,” she said. “It made me incapable of ever having a romantic life again.”
When asked by her lawyer whether she said “no” to Trump, Carroll said “I may have said that” but did not know.
She also said she felt guilty, and feared she would be fired and that Trump would retaliate if she reported him.
Inspired by the #MeToo movement, Carroll came forward in 2019, and denied Trump’s repeated suggestions that she disliked his politics.
Carroll said, “I’m not doing political calculations at all.” “I’m settling a personal score because he repeatedly called me a liar, and it has really tarnished my reputation.”
She said Trump’s attacks set Elle on fire, cost her 8 million readers, and convinced others she was false.
Carroll broke down when asked if she regretted ending her silence.
“I’m sorry about that 100 times,” she said, “but in the end being able to get my day in court is everything to me.”
Carroll is expected to be questioned by Trump’s lawyers on Thursday, including on her inability to remember when the alleged rape occurred.
Trump posted his latest comments on Truth Social about an hour before Wednesday’s testimony was to begin.
He questioned how anyone could believe him – “being very famous, to put it mildly!” Could have raped Carol.
“Didn’t he shout?” Trump wrote. “No witnesses? No one saw this?”
These posts prompted Kaplan to tell Trump’s legal team outside the presence of the jury that Trump was “trying, of course, to speak to his quote-unquote public” and that the jury should be aware of those matters. About whom “no business is being spoken.”
Kaplan also said that if Trump continues he may be “inflicted with a new source of liability”. Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said he would ask Trump to stop.
But concerns about social media influencing the trial resurfaced after Trump’s son Eric tweeted Wednesday afternoon that billionaire LinkedIn co-founder and major Democratic donor Reid Hoffman helped with Carroll’s case .
Eric Trump said that Hoffman’s involvement “is a disgrace to our country, should be illegal and that tells you everything you need to know about the case.”
Kaplan told Tacopina that such comments needed to stop.
Kaplan said, “There are some relevant US laws here, and someone on your side should be thinking about them.”
The judge also said that Donald Trump’s attorneys could not mention Hoffman at trial, calling it “unfairly prejudicial”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Zee News staff and is published from a syndicated feed)