'Donald Trump raped me,' writer E. Jean Carroll testifies at civil trial
Meanwhile, the judge admonished Trump's legal team over new online posts from the ex-president
WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
A writer suing Donald Trump took the stand Wednesday to tell jurors that the former president raped her after she accompanied him into a department store fitting room in 1996.
"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn't happen. He lied and shattered my reputation, and I'm here to try and get my life back," she testified in a New York courtroom.
As she took the stand to give testimony that sometimes brought her to tears, Trump, from afar, repeated his insistence that Carroll's claim of a 1996 rape is utter fiction. He called the case "a made-up scam," and more.
"This is a fraudulent & false story - Witch Hunt!" Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. His comments prompted the judge to warn Trump's lawyers that he could bring more legal problems upon himself.
Trump hasn't attended the trial thus far, but his lawyers said Tuesday he still could decide to testify.
The trial comes as Trump again seeks the Republican nomination for president, and weeks after he pleaded not guilty to unrelated criminal charges that involve payments made to silence a porn actor who said she had a sexual encounter with him.
Alleged assault dates back to 1996
Carroll, 79, was largely matter-of-fact on the witness stand. After she wept while telling jurors that "being able to get my day in court is everything to me," she rapidly composed herself and declined to take a break.
"I'm not going to sit here and cry and waste everybody's time," she said.
Carroll testified that she crossed paths with Trump at the revolving door to Bergdorf Goodman on an unspecified Thursday evening in spring 1996. At the time, she was writing a long-running advice column in Elle magazine. Trump was a real estate magnate and social figure in New York.
She has said he asked her for advice on selecting a gift for a woman, and she went along, thinking the experience would be funny. According to Carroll, they ended up in a lingerie department, joked with each other about who should try on a bodysuit and went to a dressing room.
Then, she alleges, Trump slammed her against a wall, yanked down her tights and raped her while she struggled against him. She has said she finally kneed him off her and fled.
"I always think back to why I walked in there to get myself in that situation," she said, her voice breaking.
She said that for decades, she told no one except two friends because she was afraid Trump would retaliate, because she "thought it was my fault" and because she thought many people blame rape victims for what happened to them.
'Potential liability,' judge says of Trump posts
Trump, 76, has said he wasn't at the store with Carroll and had no clue who she was when she first aired the story publicly in a 2019 memoir and accompanying magazine excerpt. He has said she was "totally lying" and called the case a "hoax," a "lie" and "complete con job."
Trump's comments launched a "staggering" onslaught of hateful and occasionally threatening messages toward her, according to Carroll, whose suit also includes a defamation claim.
He went on to call Carroll's lawyer "a political operative" and alluded to a DNA issue that the judge has ruled can't be part of the case.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wasn't pleased by the online outburst.
"What seems to be the case is that your client is basically endeavouring, certainly, to speak to his quote-unquote public, but, more troubling, the jury in this case about stuff that has no business being spoken about," the judge told Trump's lawyers.
He called Trump's post "a public statement that, on the face of it, seems entirely inappropriate."
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina noted that jurors are told not to follow any news or online commentary about the case. But he said he would ask Trump "to refrain from any further posts about this case."
"I hope you're more successful," Kaplan said, adding that Trump "may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability."
Carroll is due to continue testifying Thursday, when Trump's lawyers likely will get their chance to question her. Her federal lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a retraction of his allegedly defamatory comments. She never pursued criminal charges.
Carroll's suit was filed under a New York law that temporarily lets decades-old sexual abuse claims go to civil court.
Meanwhile, the judge decided Wednesday that the trial won't delve into funding that Carroll's lawyers got from American Future Republic, an organization funded by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Trump's lawyers had argued that the money raised questions about Carroll's credibility. Kaplan concluded there was "nothing there" and, after hearing that Trump's son Eric had just tweeted criticism of the funding, he again advised Tacopina to speak with Donald Trump.
Tacopina has asserted that Carroll sued to get money and try to punish Trump politically. Carroll, a registered Democrat, testified that she voted for his Democratic opponents in 2016 and 2020 but said that has nothing to do with her lawsuit.
"I'm not settling a political score at all," she said. "I'm settling a personal score."
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
With files from CBC News