A nine-person jury in New York has heard allegations that Donald Trump raped a journalist in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s and publicly disparaged her, amid a civil lawsuit the former US president has tried several times to delay started on Tuesday.
E Jean Carroll sued Trump last year, after a new law in New York State allowed plaintiffs to sue for alleged sex crimes even after the statute of limitations had expired. Carroll alleged that Trump pinned her “against the wall” in a locker room, forcibly stripped her of her clothes and assaulted her, before fleeing to Fifth Avenue and calling a friend.
“Filled with fear and shame, she kept silent for decades,” Carroll’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, told jurors during opening statements in Manhattan federal court. After seeing her integrity attacked by Trump while he was president, “she filed this lawsuit to restore her reputation,” Crowley said.
The former president denied knowing Carroll, and repeatedly asserted that the allegations were not credible, in part because the former columnist was “not my type”.
Joe Tacopina, a lawyer from Asset, told the jury that Carroll, who was present in court, was downplaying “real rape victims.” He urged the six men and three women – chosen from a group of around 150 people – not to “let her enjoy the abuse of [the legal] process”.
Unlike a criminal trial, the plaintiff need only prove that it was more likely than not that the assault in question took place, rather than the higher standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt”. . Trump cannot be imprisoned if found responsible and will likely file an appeal if so.
The lawsuit comes just weeks after Trump appeared at a nearby Manhattan courthouse to face criminal charges filed by District Attorney Alvin Bragg over how payments allegedly used to buy porn star Stormy Daniels’ silence ahead of the 2016 election were recorded in business documents. Trump pleaded not guilty.
The former president’s other legal woes include a civil suit from the New York attorney general, who accuses Trump of inflating the value of his assets to obtain favorable loans, and another investigation by Georgia prosecutors into whether he attempted to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
Carroll, now 79, is expected to testify at trial, as are two friends she allegedly confided in shortly after the attack.
Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds, who made their own allegations against Trump in 2016, are also expected to take the witness stand.
Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in March that the plaintiff’s team could introduce as evidence the so-called Go to Hollywood tape, in which Trump brags about grabbing women by the genitals, after the former president’s lawyers tried to claim it would be “prejudicial”. Trump had described the judge, who was nominated by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, as “not a fan of mine.”
Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor who is now a professor at the University of Michigan, said she fears the case could turn out to be a “win-win” for Trump.
“If Carroll prevails on his rape and defamation claims, Trump will likely turn his lawsuit into a politically motivated attack. If Trump wins at trial, he will use this case as evidence that the allegations against him are hoaxes and witch hunts,” she said.
It is unclear whether Trump will appear in court or testify in his own defense. Last week, the former president’s lawyers asked the judge to explain to the jury that he did not show up because of the logistical challenges involved. Kaplan denied the request, noting that Trump was scheduled to appear at an event in New Hampshire for his final presidential campaign this week.
Video clips of a sworn deposition that took place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in October 2022 – in which he called the trial a “big fat hoax” – will be played in court. The trial is expected to last two weeks.
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