E Jean Carroll, an advice columnist, testified before a New York jury on Wednesday that Donald Trump had sexually assaulted her, preventing her from being in a love relationship, and had later “shattered my reputation” by denying the crime had taken place.
E. Jean Carroll stated in federal court in Manhattan, where a case involving defamation and violence against the former president is being heard, “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me.”
The 76-year-old Republican is up against a number of legal issues as he pursues a run for the White House. This case is only one of them.
In a federal courthouse in New York City, one of those lawsuits is currently being heard by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan. On April 25, the proceedings got underway.
Due to the possibility of threats, intimidation, or outright violence against anyone perceived as an enemy by Mr. Trump and his supporters as they hear the evidence supporting Ms. Carroll’s allegations against the twice-impeached and convicted ex-president, Judge Kaplan ordered that the jurors in the trial remain anonymous.
Carroll testified in her civil complaint seeking damages for abuse and slander after Trump allegedly sexually assaulted her in a changing room at a New York department shop in 1996. When Carroll made her charges public in a book, he accused her of lying and manufacturing a hoax.
According to her, ““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. I’m here to try and get my life back,” she told the jury.
“His entire weight was on top of my chest. My tights were lowered by him. On the testimony stand, Carroll told the jury, “I was pushing him back.
She made the claim for the first time in a 2019 New York Magazine excerpt from her book. When asked why it took her more than 20 years to make her accusations public, she said, “I was scared of Donald Trump. I was humiliated. I believed I was to blame.
Trump disputes the charges. Judge Lewis Kaplan cautioned Trump before Carroll gave testimony that he might have tampered with the jury after the former president attacked Carroll on his social media platform, Truth Social, calling the claims a “made-up SCAM” and a “witch-hunt”.
Trump’s post was deemed “completely inappropriate” by Kaplan, who also cautioned that it could expose him to “potential liability.” Then, this past year, New York lawmakers passed the Adult Survivors Act, enabling victims of sexual abuse a year to file lawsuits against their assailants for assaults that happened decades before.
This law made it possible for Ms. Carroll to sue the former president again in November, accusing him of raping her and then defaming her by denying the attack ever happened. A New York court is currently hearing that second complaint, which is asking for financial compensation and a retraction of his denial.
Glamour Adah
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