“Donald Trump raped me”, a former journalist alleged during the trial

“I’m Here Because Donald Trump Raped Me”: Author and Former US Columnist E. Jean Carroll made serious allegations against the former president of the United States on Wednesday, during a civil trial in New York, where he sought damages.

• Read more: ‘I feel great’: Biden brushes aside questions about his age

• Read more: Civil trial against Trump in New York for defamation and rape

On the second day of the trial in Manhattan federal court, 79-year-old E. Jean Carroll spoke in a calm and serious voice. -1990s, in a fitting room at the New York luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman.

“I’m here,” she said, “more than 25 years after Donald Trump raped me.”

Then, in silence, the former Elle magazine columnist continued: “And when I wrote on the subject (in a 2019 book, editor’s note), he said it didn’t happen. He spoiled my reputation by lying. I am here to resume the course of my life.

Donald Trump has always denied these allegations, saying he had E. Jean either didn’t know Carroll or he assured her that he was “not his type”. The former president, who probably won’t be present at the trial to give his version, called it a “newly concocted hoax” on his social network Truth Social.

Assault and defamation

The alleged facts are criminally prohibited, but e. Jean Carroll was able to sue Donald Trump under a New York state law that allows sexual assault victims to reopen their civil lawsuits.

He is asking the jury to assess the amount of financial damages for “assault” but not “defamation” because of Donald Trump’s comments in the case.

The former president dreams of winning back the White House in 2024 from Joe Biden, who announced his candidacy on Tuesday, but he sees legal cases piling up.

In early April, an unprecedented historical fact for a former US president, he was charged in New York with 34 counts of accounting and tax fraud related to payments to cover up embarrassing business dealings before the 2016 presidential election.

“a few minutes”

Elegant and distinguished, with slightly sunken features, E. Jean Carroll described how “such a funny New York scene” at the beginning – a chance meeting with Donald Trump in the entrance of a department store, then some jokes in the rays – returned. A dream in a deserted 6th floor dressing room early this morning in the spring of 1996.

By her account, every New York entrepreneur and celebrity of the time recognized her, writing an “Ask E. Jean” column in Elle. He invites her in a very playful tone to help him choose a gift. In the underwear department, Donald Trump grabs an “underwear” and asks her to try it on.

E. Can’t explain how Jean Carroll followed him into the cabin more than 25 years after the alleged facts.

According to her account, Donald Trump pushed her against a wall, pinned her, then pulled down her pantyhose, “with his fingers inside (her) vagina,” and then sexually penetrated her.

“For a few minutes” it was “she couldn’t find a love life”, she testified.

Why did it take more than 20 years to come out of silence? “I was afraid of Donald Trump (…) I was embarrassed (…) I thought it was my fault”.

The former columnist has yet to be questioned by the ex-president’s lawyers, one of whom, Joe Tacobina, has already portrayed him as a storyteller hungry for money and recognition.

E. Jean Carroll doesn’t remember the date of the attack, which detectives put in the spring of 1996, and there are no eyewitnesses who saw her with Donald Trump in the store.

Two friends she said would come to the bar to corroborate her account after the alleged facts, one of E’s lawyers promised Tuesday. John Carroll.