Writer E. Jean Carroll arrives at the Manhattan Federal Court, New York on 25 April, 2023 for the defamation case against former US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP / Timothy A. Clary
The writer suing Donald Trump for allegedly raping her nearly 30 years ago told jurors at a civil trial on Wednesday that the former US president sexually assaulted her and defamed her by lying about it.
"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn't happen," E. Jean Carroll said in federal court in Manhattan.
"He lied and shattered my reputation, and I'm here to try and get my life back."
Carroll, 79, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, is seeking unspecified damages from Trump, 76, who leads the Republican field in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Her lawsuit concerns an alleged encounter in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996, where she says Trump raped her until she was able to flee.
Carroll said Trump defamed her by calling her rape claim a hoax, lie and "complete con job" on his Truth Social media platform, and said he had not known her, she was not his "type," and she made up the claim to sell her memoir.
She is also suing under New York's Adult Survivors Act, which lets adults sue their alleged abusers long after statutes of limitations have run out.
Trump is not attending and not required to attend the trial, which began on Tuesday and is expected to last one to two weeks.
But he expressed his views about it again on Truth Social on Wednesday, calling Carroll's lawyer a "political operative" and the rape claim "a made up SCAM," adding: "This is a fraudulent & false story--Witch Hunt!"
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan warned that Trump could face more legal problems if he kept discussing the case.
Accuser denies claims she's suing for politics
Carroll testified she had met Trump years before the alleged rape, finding him "very personable" and a "man about town."
At Bergdorf, Carroll recalled she was leaving the store when Trump recognised her and held up his hand. She stopped.
"He said, 'Hey, you are that advice lady,'" Carroll recalled. "I said, 'Hey, you are that real estate tycoon.'"
Carroll said she and Trump engaged in banter, describing his tone as "joshing," as Trump sought to buy lingerie for another woman.
She said Trump asked her to try on a piece of lingerie, prompting her to joke that he should try it on.
Carroll said Trump then ushered her to an open dressing room, shut the door, shoved her against a wall, and pulled down her tights. She choked up and fought back tears as she described pushing him back.
Trump's fingers "went into my vagina, which was extremely painful, extremely painful," and he also "inserted his penis," she said. "As I'm sitting here today I can still feel it."
Asked by her lawyer if she told Trump "no," Carroll said: "I don't recall saying it. I may have said it."
Carroll said she blamed herself at the time, and feared she would lose her job and Trump would retaliate if she reported him.
She also said the damage was long-lasting.
"It left me unable to ever have a romantic life again," she said.
Carroll denied Trump's repeated suggestions that she sued because she disliked his politics.
"I'm not settling a political score at all," Carroll said. "I'm settling a personal score because he called me a liar repeatedly, and it really has decimated my reputation.
"I'm a journalist," she said. "The one thing I have to have is the trust of the readers."
Lawyers for Trump are expected to question Carroll, including over her inability to remember when the encounter took place.
Outside interference
Trump posted his latest comments on Truth Social about an hour before Wednesday's testimony began.
He questioned how anyone could believe he - "being very well known, to put it mildly!" - could have raped Carroll.
"She didn't scream?" Trump wrote. "There are no witnesses? Nobody saw this?"
The posts led Kaplan to tell Trump's legal team, outside the jury's presence, that Trump appeared to be "endeavoring, certainly, to speak to his quote-unquote public" and to the jury about matters that have "no business being spoken about."
Kaplan said Trump could be "tampering with a new source of liability" if he continued.
Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina said he would tell Trump to stop.
But concern about social media influencing the trial resurfaced after Trump's son Eric tweeted on Wednesday afternoon about Reid Hoffman, the billionaire LinkedIn co-founder and prominent Democratic donor helping fund Carroll's case.
Eric Trump said Hoffman's involvement was "an embarrassment to our country, should be illegal and tells you everything you need to know about the case".
Kaplan told Tacopina that such comments needed to stop.
"There are some relevant US statutes here, and somebody on your side ought to be thinking about them," Kaplan said.
The judge also said Donald Trump's lawyers could not mention Hoffman at the trial, calling it "unfairly prejudicial."
- Reuters