The woman, E. Jean Carroll told a court: “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn’t happen,” E. Jean Carroll told a court in Manhattan, US. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back.”
Carroll is seeking unspecified damages from Trump, 76, who leads the Republican field in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Who is E. Jean Carroll?
E. Jean Carroll, 79, is an American journalist, writer, and advice columnist.
She used to write the “Ask E. Jean” column for Elle magazine, which is reportedly one of the longest-running advice columns in American publishing.
Carroll also authored a book, What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal, in which she accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1900s.
The Allegation
According to E. Jean Carroll, the incident happened at a luxury department store about 30 years ago.
Carroll recalled that she was leaving the store when Trump recognised her and held up his hand. She stopped.
“He said, ‘Hey, you are that advice lady.” Carroll recalled. “I said, ‘Hey, you are that real estate tycoon.'”
Carroll said Trump bantered in a “joshing” tone as he shopped for lingerie for another woman.
She said Trump asked her to try on a piece of lingerie, prompting her to joke that he should try it on.
Carroll said Trump then coaxed her into an open dressing room, shut the door, shoved her against a wall, and pulled down her tights. She choked up and fought back tears as she described pushing him back.
Trump’s fingers “went into my vagina, which was extremely painful, extremely painful,” and he also “inserted his penis,” she said.
“As I’m sitting here today I can still feel it,” she said. “It left me unable to ever have a romantic life again.”
What Trump says
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has called Carroll a “nut job” who fabricated the rape claim to sell her book.
He accused her of pursuing the case for money, status and political reasons, urging the jurors from heavily Democratic New York to put aside any animus they themselves might hold towards the Republican ex-president and ex-New Yorker.
“You can hate Donald Trump. That’s OK. But there’s a time and a secret place for that. It’s called a ballot box in an election. It’s not here in a court of law,” Tacopina told the six-man, three-woman panel. “Nobody’s above the law, but no one is beneath it.”
With agency inputs
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