'Donald Trump raped me', writer tells jury in lawsuit trial

A author suing Donald Trump has taken the stand to inform jurors the previous president raped her after she accompanied him right into a division retailer becoming room in 1996.

E Jean Carroll’s look on Wednesday (early Tuesday AEST) got here as Trump’s feedback concerning the case on-line prompted the decide to warn his attorneys he may convey extra authorized issues upon himself.

“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” Carroll testified.

Former recommendation columnist E Jean Carroll arrives to federal court docket in New York on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (AP)

“He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back.”

From afar, Trump repeated his insistence Carroll’s allegations had been fiction, writing on his social media website that the case “is a made-up scam” and extra.

Trump hasn’t attended the trial so far, however his attorneys mentioned Tuesday it is nonetheless potential he may resolve to testify.

The trial comes as Trump once more seeks the Republican nomination for president, and weeks after he pleaded not responsible to unrelated felony expenses that contain funds made to silence a porn actor who mentioned she had a sexual encounter with him.

Carroll, 79, has mentioned she crossed paths with Trump on the revolving door to Bergdorf Goodman on an unspecified Thursday night in spring 1996.

Former President Donald Trump speaks on the National Rifle Association Convention in Indianapolis earlier this month. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File) (AP)

At the time, she was writing a long-running recommendation column in Elle journal. Trump was an actual property magnate and social determine in New York.

She has mentioned he requested her recommendation about choosing a present for a girl, and he or she went alongside, considering the expertise can be humorous. According to Carroll, they ended up in a lingerie division, joked with one another about who ought to strive on a bodysuit and went to a dressing room.

Then, she alleges, Trump slammed her in opposition to a wall, yanked down her tights and raped her whereas she struggled in opposition to him. She has mentioned she lastly kneed him off her and fled.

Trump, 76, has mentioned he wasn’t on the retailer with Carroll and had no clue who she was when she first aired the story publicly in a 2019 memoir and accompanying journal excerpt.

Trump hasn’t attended the trial so far, however his attorneys, together with Susan Necheles, left, mentioned it is nonetheless potential he may resolve to testify. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman) (AP)

As court docket was about to start on Wednesday, Trump vented his emotions about it on his Truth Social platform.

Among different remarks, he known as Carroll’s lawyer “a political operative” and alluded to a DNA problem that Judge Lewis A Kaplan has dominated cannot be a part of the case.

“This is a fraudulent & false story — Witch Hunt!” Trump wrote.

Lawyers for Carroll — whose go well with contains claims that Trump beforehand defamed her by publicly calling her case a “hoax”, “scam”, “lie” and “complete con job” — talked about his new assertion to Kaplan. He wasn’t happy.

“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 decide advised Trump’s attorneys.

He known as Trump’s put up “a public statement that, on the face of it, seems entirely inappropriate”.

Former recommendation columnist E Jean Carroll arrives to Manhattan federal court docket on Wednesday. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) (AP)

Trump legal professional Joe Tacopina famous that jurors are advised to not comply with any news or on-line commentary concerning the case.

But he mentioned he would ask Trump “to refrain from any further posts about this case”.

“I hope you’re more successful,” Kaplan mentioned, including that Trump “may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability”.

Carroll’s federal lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a retraction of his allegedly defamatory feedback.

The go well with was filed beneath a New York regulation that briefly lets decades-old sexual abuse claims go to civil court docket. She by no means pursued felony expenses.